Review of the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Modern Ontology – XII: Ontology as Systematic Knowledge About the World in Its Unity” (Saint Petersburg, Belgrade, Volgograd, June 23–27, 2025)

This article provides an overview of the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Modern Ontology – XII: Ontology as a Systematic Knowledge of the World in Its Unity,” which was held from June 23 to 27 at the Saint Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation. The conference was attended by scientists from twenty cities, as well as colleagues from abroad. In this review, we have divided the conference’s presentations into two thematic blocks. The first block focuses on the general issues of the doctrine of being as a systematic unity of a specific type of knowledge, as well as the specific issues of regional ontological methodology. Special attention is paid to significant domestic concepts that shape the history of world ontological thought (the Leningrad School, the teachings of V.N. Sagatovsky, etc.). Among other things, the ontological aspects of consciousness, freedom, dialectics and hermeneutics, semiotics, quantum mechanics, pedagogy and law, economics and society, information technology, and artificial intelligence were discussed. The second thematic block includes the problems of the relationship between ontological and phenomenological philosophical systems. The borderline issues of virtual reality phenomenology, logic phenomenology, semiotics phenomenology, and time phenomenology were considered. An important result of these discussions is that phenomenology, which traditionally has a well-defined direction, can be quite effective from a methodological standpoint in ontologies based on the unity of subject and object, such as the philosophy of evolving harmony and relational ontology. The practical significance of the conference’s results lies in establishing an interdisciplinary dialogue between philosophers and representatives of the natural and human sciences, as well as in sharing experience in teaching philosophical disciplines to students from various fields of study.