Philosophy Dictionary of Arguments

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Non-existence, philosophy: non-existence is not simply expressible for the classical predicate logic which attributes properties through quantification in the form of (Ex)(Fx) "There is at least one x, with the property F" (in short "There is at least one F"), since existence is not a property. The form "There is at least one x that does not exist" is contradictory. See also existence predicate, "There is", existence, unicorn example, pegasus example, round square, proof of God's existence.
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Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

Bas van Fraassen on Non-Existence - Dictionary of Arguments

I 218/219
Nonexistence/Fraassen: universal quantifikation over an empty domain is true - existential quantification false.
I.e. not that the truth values are dependent on the knowledge - because you will believe that the facts would be the same if we didn't exist.
>Quantification
, >Universal quanification, >Existential quantification, >Existence, >Truth, >Facts.

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Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.

Fr I
B. van Fraassen
The Scientific Image Oxford 1980


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Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-27
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