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Full Idea
We may be unfamiliar with the question 'What is being?' because there appear to be no contrastive questions of the form: how do beings differ from things that are not beings?
Gist of Idea
Maybe 'What is being? is confusing because we can't ask what non-being is like
Source
Vassilis Politis (Aristotle and the Metaphysics [2004], 4.1)
Book Ref
Politis,Vasilis: 'Aristotle and the Metaphysics' [Routledge 2004], p.93
A Reaction
We can, of course, contrast actual beings with possible beings, or imaginary beings, or even logically impossible beings, but in those cases 'being' strikes me as an entirely inappropriate word.
11257 | The Pythagoreans were the first to offer definitions [Politis, by Politis] |
11235 | 'True of' is applicable to things, while 'true' is applicable to words [Politis] |
11248 | Necessary truths can be two-way relational, where essential truths are one-way or intrinsic [Politis] |
11277 | Maybe 'What is being? is confusing because we can't ask what non-being is like [Politis] |