How the method of ontogenetic thinking works can be demonstrated using a simple example. Let's take a technical device whose purpose, structure and origin are well known: The car.
Let us begin with the study of phenomena: What are the observable characteristics of a car?
The most striking characteristic is in its name. Automobile means "that which moves itself". Cars can move, i.e. accelerate, move forward and backward at different speeds, change direction left and right, brake and stop. Cars are used to transport people or things. If you watch cars closely, like a zoologist studying the behavior of a new animal species, you will notice other peculiarities that occur only occasionally or under certain circumstances - for example, that cars usually drive at night with bright headlights, or sometimes emit optical or acoustic signals.
Let us now turn to the ontology. What components are required to produce these externally observable properties?
The laws of physics tell us that a material object such as a car can only accelerate if it gains kinetic energy from another form of energy. Therefore, it needs an engine that is supplied with energy from some kind of storage, which is transferred from the engine to a drive via intermediate elements. Steering is needed so that a car can change its direction of travel. And without brakes, a car would not be able to abruptly reduce its speed and stop. A car body must hold all the components together. For the driver to be able to look out and orient himself in all directions, the body must either have openings or be equipped with aids such as mirrors and rear-view cameras. Doors are also needed to get people in and out or to load and unload objects. Other components are needed for occasional additional functions - lights, brake lights, turn signals and horn, perhaps even a car radio. These, in turn, require again an appropriate power supply and control system.
How exactly these components are implemented in detail can vary from car to car. Some cars have an internal combustion engine that runs on petrol, diesel or natural gas; other cars have an electric drive that is powered by a battery or a fuel cell. In most cars, the engine drives the front wheels via the gearbox and axles, but there are also four-wheel drives, tracked vehicles and other special designs. Some cars have seats for just two people, while others have seats for five or seven people.
It is not possible to know exactly how a car is constructed based solely on its externally observable properties - to do this, you have to break the car down into its individual parts or follow its development. But we can deduce which components a car must fundamentally possess from its phenomenological properties if we have basic theories about how our world works.
Now to the third perspective - genealogy: How does a car come into being?
To answer this question, we need to trace a car back in time. We will find out that the owner of the car bought it from a car dealership, where it arrived on a semi-trailer, which had previously picked it up from a freight train that brought it from a large factory. In the factory, cars are assembled on an assembly line by robots and workers from a large number of individual parts that come from various other factories, which in turn are supplied with preliminary products from other factories.
But that is only the history of the individual car. There is also a history of the car as a species. There have not always been cars in the world. The car was not invented until the end of the 19th century. The first cars were coaches equipped with internal combustion engines by men like Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler. Over the decades, the typical appearance of cars changed and their production processes were gradually optimized. Henry Ford introduced the assembly line, and later industrial robots increasingly replaced workers on the factory floor. New components, such as seat belts and catalytic converters, were added to cars to meet safety and environmental standards. Over time, air conditioning, heated seats, power windows, and navigation systems went from optional to standard, making driving more and more comfortable.
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