more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
What should the name 'that which is not' be applied to?
Gist of Idea
What does 'that which is not' refer to?
Source
Plato (The Sophist [c.359 BCE], 237c)
Book Ref
Plato: 'Complete Works', ed/tr. Cooper,John M. [Hackett 1997], p.257
A Reaction
This leads into a discussion of the problem, in The Sophist. It became a large issue when modern logic was being developed by Frege and Russell.
445 | The realm of necessary non-existence cannot be explored, because it is unknowable [Parmenides] |
1503 | There is no such thing as nothing [Parmenides] |
18933 | Not-Being obviously doesn't exist, and the five modes of Being are all impossible [Gorgias, by Diog. Laertius] |
20902 | Being does not exist more than non-being [Democritus, by Aristotle] |
20904 | The non-existent exists as much as the existent, because it has causal powers [Democritus] |
11278 | What does 'that which is not' refer to? [Plato] |
24029 | Among the simples are the graspable negations, such as rest and instants [Descartes] |
21762 | To grasp an existence, we must consider its non-existence [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
21977 | Nothing exists, as thinkable and expressible [Hegel] |
22919 | A thing which makes no difference seems unlikely to exist [Le Poidevin] |
14393 | The totality state is the most plausible truthmaker for negative existential truths [Merricks] |
23538 | Nothingness only exists in consciousness [Berardi] |
12408 | Sartre to Waitress: Coffee with no cream, please... [Sommers,W] |