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Single Idea 13221
[filed under theme 7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 2. Types of Existence
]
Full Idea
Some things are-potentially while others are-actually.
Gist of Idea
Existence is either potential or actual
Source
Aristotle (Coming-to-be and Passing-away (Gen/Corr) [c.335 BCE], 327b24)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'The Basic Works of Aristotle', ed/tr. McKeon,Richard [Modern Library Classics 2001], p.504
A Reaction
I've read a lot of Aristotle, but am still not quite clear what this distinction means. I like the distinction between a thing's actual being and its 'modal profile', but the latter may extend well beyond what Aristotle means by potential being.
The
18 ideas
with the same theme
[whether there is more than one type of existence]:
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13221
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Existence is either potential or actual
[Aristotle]
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568
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Some things exist as substances, others as properties of substances
[Aristotle]
|
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16588
|
I prefer a lack of form to mean non-existence, than to think of some quasi-existence
[Augustine]
|
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16664
|
Everything that exists is either a substance or an accident
[Albert of Saxony]
|
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17174
|
Outside the mind, there are just things and their properties
[Spinoza]
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17176
|
The more reality a thing has, the more attributes it has
[Spinoza]
|
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21291
|
There is no medium state between existence and non-existence
[Hume]
|
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4168
|
Matter and intellect are inseparable correlatives which only exist relatively, and for each other
[Schopenhauer]
|
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19470
|
Thoughts in the 'third realm' cannot be sensed, and do not need an owner to exist
[Frege]
|
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10241
|
For Quine, there is only one way to exist
[Quine, by Shapiro]
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15535
|
We can't accept a use of 'existence' that says only some of the things there are actually exist
[Lewis]
|
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10470
|
There are only two kinds: sets, and possibilia (actual and possible particulars)
[Lewis, by Oliver]
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15520
|
Existence doesn't come in degrees; once asserted, it can't then be qualified
[Lewis]
|
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15789
|
Lewis's distinction of 'existing' from 'being actual' is Meinong's between 'existing' and 'subsisting'
[Lycan on Lewis]
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12620
|
If 'exist' is ambiguous in 'chairs and numbers exist', that mirrors the difference between chairs and numbers
[Fodor]
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13884
|
The idea that 'exist' has multiple senses is not coherent
[Wright,C]
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15078
|
There are levels of existence, as well as reality; objects exist at the lowest level in which they can function
[Fine,K]
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18769
|
Do mathematicians use 'existence' differently when they say some entity exists?
[Anderson,CA]
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