Questions tagged [existence]
Ontological and metaphysical questions about the study of existence, being and the structure of reality.
438
questions
2
votes
6
answers
1k
views
Is it true that no philosopher disagrees that everything exists?
I am baffled by what Quine claims here:
A curious thing about the ontological problem is its simplicity. It can be put in three Anglo-Saxon monosyllables: 'What is there?' It can be answered, ...
- 8,366
1
vote
1
answer
143
views
What would it be like for a person with no senses and no motor functions at all since birth?
As a sort of thought experiment trying to go to the farthest lengths of knowing oneself from the distractions of this world, I wanted to know what it would be like for a person that was born with none ...
- 1,539
8
votes
7
answers
807
views
Unperceived Existence
My daughter is at university reading neuroscience. One of her modules this year is philosophy and she is struggling with this question.
"Do we infer the unperceived existence of what we perceive ...
- 81
5
votes
1
answer
175
views
How does the claim that existence is not a predicate of objects interact with abstract objects?
It's occured to me that Kant's famous argument that "existence" is not a predicate whatsoever, which eventually became the prevailing position on the subject due to Frege and Russell, seems ...
- 361
2
votes
10
answers
624
views
Does any philosophy define 'existence' such that unobservable things exist?
In Science and the Unobservable Nature (1937) it says
An outstanding characteristic of modern physics is that only that
which is observable is significant.
... the followers of Einstein maintained ...
- 6,284
1
vote
2
answers
92
views
If something is temporally and spatially vague, then can it be individuated by its absence?
1 If something is temporally and spatially vague, then can it become nothing?
I am thinking that it cannot be entirely individuated from its absence while it exists, because e.g. the space where it ...
user71226
3
votes
3
answers
154
views
Do arguments arising from probability convincingly argue a mass human extinction event in the near future? [closed]
One such argument is the Doomsday argument which is taken seriously by a number of academics. But more simply, if we look at the modern population trajectory, it's something of an exponential curve. ...
- 1,927
4
votes
7
answers
1k
views
Does something that exists hypothetically exist at all?
So, I was asking myself the question: if something will exist in the future, with almost absolute certainty, but has not come to existence yet, can one claim that it exists? And, can one claim that it ...
- 59
3
votes
6
answers
628
views
What's the least amount of things that can possibly exist?
Suppose there only ever existed one indecomposable, irreducible object.
What could distinguish it from nothingness? From not existing, as there is nothing besides it that could deduce its information?
...
- 213
0
votes
4
answers
142
views
Existence, Stating/Proving in Logic
Proving dogs exist
If x barks then x is a dog: ∀x(Bx → Dx)
t: Timmy (a dog)
PROOF:
∀x(Bx → Dx) [Premise]
Bt [Premise]
Bt → Dt [1 UI]
Dt [2, 3 MP]
∃x(Dx) [4 EG]
QED
Proving ghosts don't exist
If the ...
- 4,351
4
votes
3
answers
981
views
Does 'cogito ergo sum' actually establish the existence of an objective truth/reality?
Before I start describing my questions, I would like to draw some background on my understanding and knowledge of Descartes' ontological(metaphysical) views regarding the cogito and philosophy in ...
- 1,539
6
votes
5
answers
235
views
Is consciousness universal?
I have just read "Why" by Philip Goff. He proposes that matter consists of conscious entities. Physics based on mathematics tells us what matter does, not what it is. This has implications ...
- 2,341
0
votes
1
answer
91
views
Can existence only be reasonably defined as a relation? [closed]
Here is an observation:
Things that exist are verifiable, i.e., there is some external object, within its scope of accessibility, that can construct its information. By ‘construct its information’, I ...
- 213
0
votes
3
answers
98
views
Why is Sextus Empiricus not self-contradicting and where can I read about his works?
Firstly, Sextus states: "By way of preface let us say that on none of the matters to be discussed do we affirm that things certainly are just as we say they are: rather, we report descriptively ...
- 483
5
votes
4
answers
168
views
If we keep asking "why" are we guaranteed to end up in one of the three states of the Münchhausen Trilemma?
Could you please explain your reasoning. I thought the whole point of this trilemma was that you can't know anything for certain, yet they propose with certainty that you end up in one of these states,...
- 483