Questions tagged [existence]
Ontological and metaphysical questions about the study of existence, being and the structure of reality.
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Is there a philosophical concept that describes the notion that all permutations of human experience must exist simultaneously?
It's the idea that, basically, if we each have our own paths to walk, so to speak, and if they are all unique to each individual person, then that must mean every possible permutation of a "life&...
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Is Anselm's argument supposed to be understood in terms of hyperintensionality?
Hyperintensionality is something to do with e.g. the difference between, "I believe that Dean is Dean," vs., "I believe that Dean is Ackles." Generally, an operation X on A and B ...
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Did Aristotle think that essence and existence are the same thing or that they are different things?
What did Aristotle think about this distinction?
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Is the universe 'necessarily' contingent?
My question arises from a debate I had seen between Mohammed Hijabi and Alex O'Connell (the debate) where it seems like Hijabi was admitting to the fact that all contingent things must come from and ...
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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 ...
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Chicken or Egg. Does anything begin Or is the idea of start/first origin. A misunderstanding of language
The existence of beginning. Origin/start/begin. All require something before. Are all just arbitrary measurements of traits we find of interest. Mapping how they change over time? The global Idea of ...
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What is the difference in concrete things between being and existing, or is there none?
I am supposing that being and existence must correspond to principles in concrete things, else the notions of being and existence are false precisely because they are attributed to things. So what ...
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Are "finding the pain of existence unbearable" and "deciding that life is not worth living" the same?
I have tried to present my views regarding these two seemingly related phenomena.
(a) Thinking that Life is not worth living
When one "thinks" that life is not worth living, that is a ...
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Can, "Intuitions without concepts are blind," be explained in terms of sentences featuring indexicals?
I.e., imagine an assertion like, "This is that." Taken per se, it is like "thoughts without content [that] are empty," but taken de re, is it blind? If I point at some "this&...
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What is the meaning of "meaning of life" and why do people seek it?
One of the oldest questions is "What is the meaning of life?". But what does the concept of "meaning of life" actually mean? What does it mean for something to be the "meaning ...
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Is "thoughts exist" a synthetic a priori statement?
I'm working off of Kant's conception of analytic/synthetic and a prior/a posteriori judgements.
The definition of "thoughts" does not subsume their existence. That is, it is logically ...
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Do meanings of statements exist?
It was suggested to me in another thread that materialism is self defeating. But when I looked at the reason for that statement I found confusion in the argument.
(4) MATERIALISM
[Definition] The ...
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How is existence in presentism reconciled with relativity of simultaneity?
New 2024 Note - this is an old question from 2016 that I forgot about - for a new version with a possible solution take a look in Presentism in Light of Relativity — It's About Time I Asked This Here.
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What is the meaning of existence? [closed]
What is the meaning of the word 'exist'?
Its etymology reveals it's derived from two Latin words:
ex = from + ist = is
Thus, its inventor intended it to mean from is.
What did the inventor of the ...
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Aquinas on the relation between essence, being, and existence
In Summa Contra Gentiles 2.9.4, Aquinas writes
Just as active power is something acting, so is its essence something
being [Sicut potentia activa est aliquid agens, ita essentia eius est aliquid ens]....
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