The Ontology of the Intellectual Commons

This chapter formulates a processual ontology of the intellectual commons, by examining the substance, elements, tendencies and manifestations of their being. The first part of the chapter introduces the various definitions of the concept, identifying the inherent elements and characteristics of the intellectual commons. Its second part focuses on the elements that constitute the totalities of the intellectual commons. Its third part emphasises their structural tendencies. Finally, the fourth and last part of the chapter deals with the various manifestations of the intellectual commons in the domains of culture, science and technology. Overall it proceeds by pointing out the tendencies and manifestations of the intellectual commons in the context of their dialectical interrelation with capital and commodity markets. This chapter is an analysis of the elements of personhood, work, value and community within the intellectual commons, which bear moral significance. It thus constitutes the ontological basis for the normative theory of the intellectual commons developed in the study.