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Single Idea 14463
[filed under theme 7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 1. Nature of Existence
]
Full Idea
Existence can only be asserted of something described, not of something named.
Gist of Idea
Existence can only be asserted of something described, not of something named
Source
Bertrand Russell (Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy [1919], XVIII)
Book Ref
Russell,Bertrand: 'Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy' [George Allen and Unwin 1975], p.203
A Reaction
This is the motivation behind Russell's theory of definite descriptions, and epitomises the approach to ontology through language. Sounds wrong to me!
The
21 ideas
with the same theme
[what it means for things to exist]:
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14874
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Anaximander saw the contradiction in the world - that its own qualities destroy it
[Anaximander, by Nietzsche]
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481
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Nothing is created or destroyed; there is only mixing and separation
[Anaxagoras]
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14028
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Nothing comes to be from what doesn't exist
[Epicurus]
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14029
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If disappearing things went to nothingness, nothing could return, and it would all be gone by now
[Epicurus]
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23634
|
Accepting the existence of anything presupposes the notion of existence
[Reid]
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4475
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Saying a thing 'is' adds nothing to it - otherwise if my concept exists, it isn't the same as my concept
[Kant]
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11008
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Existence is not a first-order property, but the instantiation of a property
[Frege, by Read]
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8643
|
Affirmation of existence is just denial of zero
[Frege]
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14463
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Existence can only be asserted of something described, not of something named
[Russell]
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13133
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The world is facts, not things. Facts determine the world, and the world divides into facts
[Wittgenstein]
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16434
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Some say what exists must do so, and nothing else could possible exist
[Stalnaker]
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16439
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A nominalist view says existence is having spatio-temporal location
[Stalnaker]
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15532
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'Allists' embrace the existence of all controversial entities; 'noneists' reject all but the obvious ones
[Lewis]
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6070
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Existence is a primary quality, non-existence a secondary quality
[McGinn]
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12214
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'Exists' is a predicate, not a quantifier; 'electrons exist' is like 'electrons spin'
[Fine,K]
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10279
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Can we discover whether a deck is fifty-two cards, or a person is time-slices or molecules?
[Shapiro]
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8321
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All possible worlds contain abstracta (e.g. numbers), which means they contain concrete objects
[Lowe]
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9427
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For Humeans the world is a world primarily of events
[Mumford]
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19659
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The absolute is the impossibility of there being a necessary existent
[Meillassoux]
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18740
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If 'exist' doesn't express a property, we can hardly ask for its essence
[Horsten/Pettigrew]
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19034
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The world is either a whole made of its parts, or a container which contains its parts
[Vetter]
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