Existence
[3] The word "existence" entered the English language in the late 14th century from old French and has its roots in the medieval Latin term ex(s)istere, which means "to stand forth", "to appear", and "to arise".
[12] According to some philosophers, like Edmund Husserl (1859–1938), existence is an elementary concept, meaning it cannot be defined in other terms without involving circularity.
Abstract objects, like numbers, sets, and types, have no location in space and time, and lack causal powers.
[46] A few philosophers, like Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), see God and the world as the same thing, and say that all entities have necessary existence to provide a unified and rational explanation of everything.
[55] The mind–body problem concerns the ontological status of and relation between physical and mental entities and is a frequent topic in metaphysics and philosophy of mind.
Materialists usually explain mental entities in terms of physical processes; for example, as brain states or as patterns of neural activation.
Possibilists, by contrast, see fictional entities as a subclass of possible objects; creationists say that they are artifacts that depend for their existence on the authors who first conceived them.
The problem of intentional inexistence is the challenge of explaining how one can think about entities that do not exist since this seems to have the paradoxical implication that the thinker stands in a relation to a nonexisting object.
According to philosopher Plato (428/427–348/347 BCE), for example, unchangeable Platonic forms have a higher degree of existence than physical objects.
[77] For instance, the Empire State Building is an individual object and "being 443.2 meters (1,454 ft) tall" is a first-order property of it.
This theory states negative singular existentials deny an object matching the descriptions exists without referring to a nonexistent individual.
Following this approach, the sentence "Ronald McDonald does not exist" expresses the idea: "it is not the case there is a unique happy hamburger clown".
[91] One key motivation of Meinongianism is to explain how negative singular existentials like "Ronald McDonald does not exist" can be true.
According to an influential view defended by Willard Van Orman Quine, the domain of quantification is restricted to existing objects.
This means, when understood in a strict sense, all negative singular existentials are false, including the assertion that "Ronald McDonald does not exist".
[96] Western philosophy originated with the Presocratic philosophers, who aimed to replace earlier mythological accounts of the universe by providing rational explanations based on foundational principles of all existence.
Anaximander (c. 610–545 BCE) opposed this position; he believed the source must lie in an abstract principle that is beyond the world of human perception.
[107] Philosopher and psychologist Franz Brentano (1838–1917) agreed with Kant's criticism and his position that existence is not a real predicate.
[108] Gottlob Frege (1848–1925) and Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) aimed to refine the idea of what it means that existence is not a regular property.
For instance, the ancient Hindu school of Samkhya articulated a metaphysical dualism according to which the two types of existence are pure consciousness (Purusha) and matter (Prakriti).
[116] A central doctrine in Buddhist philosophy is called the "three marks of existence", which are aniccā (impermanence), anattā (absence of a permanent self), and dukkha (suffering).
[117] A central idea in many schools of Chinese philosophy, like Laozi's (6th century BCE) Daoism, is that a fundamental principle known as dao is the source of all existence.
[119] Indigenous American philosophies tend to emphasize the interconnectedness of all existence and the importance of maintaining balance and harmony with nature.
This is often combined with an animist outlook that ascribes a spiritual essence to some or all entities, including plants, rocks, and places.
[120] The interest in the relational aspect of existence is also found in African philosophy, which explores how all entities are causally linked to form an ordered world.
African philosophy also examines the idea of an underlying and all-pervading life force responsible for animating entities and their influence on each other.
[133] According to the controversial Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, the social institution of language influences or fully determines how people perceive and understand the world.
[136] Influential existentialists include Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980), and Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986).
This position is affirmed by Platonists, while nominalists believe mathematical objects lack a more-substantial form of existence, for instance, because they are merely useful fictions.
[144] According to teleological arguments, the only way to explain the order and complexity of the universe and human life is by reference to God as the intelligent designer.
