Ontological concepts ask what something is, not merely what indicates it

Evidence

Nussbaum is not asking what are the indicators or effects of human well-being but what human well-being is. It is causal because she is making claims about what happens biologically, psychologically, and socially to people who fail to attend to secondary-level functions. It is a realist approach to human well-being, based on her reading of anthropology, sociology, and biology. — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts, 158

Categorization

• DEFINE: Cleanly separates the ontological view of concepts (what X is) from the indicator/factor-analytic view (what marks or causes X) — a distinction worth keeping crisp.