形式本体论是20世纪80年代影响广泛的一种文论思潮,它主张文学的本质是形式,形式对于文学具有本体的意味。“向内转”的讨论与文学转向自身,西方形式主义文论的推介,以及来自创作的挑战是形式本体论得以产生的直接诱因。形式本体论表现为作品本体论、语言本体论和形式本体论三个维度,在深化人们对文学本质的认识方面发挥了重要的作用。 Formal ontology is a widely influential literary theory in the 1980s. It claims that the essence of literature is formality, and its form has the ontological meaning to literature. The discussion of “inward turn” and the turn of literature itself, the introduction of western formalistic literary theory and the challenge from creation are the direct inducements of formal ontology. Formal ontology manifests itself in three dimensions: ontology, linguistic ontology and formal ontology, playing an important role in deepening people’s understanding of the nature of literature.