Full Idea
A higher standard for saying that entities exist might require that they play an essential role in explanation, or must figure in any complete causal story, or exist according to some uniform and nonarbitrary principle of composition.
Gist of Idea
Existence might require playing a role in explanation, or in a causal story, or being composed in some way
Source
Amie L. Thomasson (Ordinary Objects [2007], 11.2)
Book Reference
Thomasson,Amie L.: 'Ordinary Objects' [OUP 2010], p.193
A Reaction
I am struck by the first of these three. If I am defending the notion that essence depends on Aristotle's account of explanation, then if we add that existence also depends on explanation, we get a criterion for the existence of essences. Yay.