Architecture Practice Methods

Feb 23, 2026 · Fundamentals

Why Ontology Isn't Just OOP: Lessons from Theseus' Ship for Enterprise Architecture

This article uses Theseus' Ship and a tea cup to illustrate the philosophical distinction between ontology and object-oriented programming, arguing that ontology captures the invariant structural principles that maintain identity amid change, and shows how applying this thinking to enterprise digitalization preserves organizational continuity across system replacements.