Relating to being or the way something is or, more accurately, becomes. The active, becoming aspect of the word is a relatively recent innovation. It comes from a realization that things are only what they are in relation to something else. (See also ecology). This does NOT mean that all is relative per se, that things and beings have no substance, but it does mean that what is real is not immutable and given. See also ontology. Often paired with the word epistemological.
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