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Full Idea
It is not true to say that what is not, since it is thought about, is something that is; for what is thought about it is not that it is, but that it is not.
Gist of Idea
Non-existent things aren't made to exist by thought, because their non-existence is part of the thought
Source
Aristotle (On Interpretation [c.330 BCE], 21a31)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Categories and De Interpretatione', ed/tr. Ackrill,J.R. [OUP 1963], p.59
A Reaction
At least there has been one philosopher who was quite clear about the distinction between a thought and what the thought is about (its content). Often forgotten!
| 1643 | If statements about non-existence are logically puzzling, so are statements about existence [Plato] |
| 1706 | Non-existent things aren't made to exist by thought, because their non-existence is part of the thought [Aristotle] |
| 16587 | Prime matter is halfway between non-existence and existence [Averroes] |
| 11195 | If affirmative propositions express being, we affirm about what is absent [Aquinas] |
| 21760 | Thinking of nothing is not the same as simply not thinking [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
| 21982 | I only wish I had such eyes as to see Nobody! It's as much as I can do to see real people. [Carroll,L] |
| 18317 | The 'real being' of things is a nothingness constructed from contradictions in the actual world [Nietzsche] |
| 11277 | Maybe 'What is being? is confusing because we can't ask what non-being is like [Politis] |
| 22914 | An equally good question would be why there was nothing instead of something [Bardon] |