Robert Theis

Relatio in Christian Wolffs Ontologie

Wolffs’ peculiar treatment of the notion of ‘relatio’ is situated in the Latin Ontologia within the section on the dependentia rerum, of which it is seen as a modal form. Yet, whereas dependentia reveals an asymmetrical structure, relatio is thought as fundamentally symmetrical (dependentia unius ad alterum). Moreover, Wolff defends a realistic ontology of relation instead of a merely semantic one: relations belong to things, altough not in an absolute manner, but rather in the sense that relations have in them a foundation in terms of a disposition.A further question concerns in general the status of Wolff’s ontology as mostly a relational ontology. It is demonstrated that the properties of being reveal a kind of ontological surplus which turns out to be a relational one.In the conclusions the problem of the notion of ‘relation’ is further discussed from the point of view of natural theology: it is here demonstrated that the relationship between God and creature can be considered, on the one hand, in ter...