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Single Idea 9110

[filed under theme 7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / g. Particular being ]

Full Idea

The words 'thing' and 'to be' (esse) signify one and the same thing, but the one in the manner of a noun and the other in the manner of a verb.

Gist of Idea

The words 'thing' and 'to be' assert the same idea, as a noun and as a verb

Source

William of Ockham (Summa totius logicae [1323], III,II,c,xxvii)

Book Ref

Ockham,William of: 'Ockham's Philosophical Writings', ed/tr. Boehner,P [Hackett 1990], p.93

A Reaction

Well said - as you would expect from a thoroughgoing nominalist. I would have thought that this was the last word on the subject of Being, thus rendering any need for me to read Heidegger quite superfluous. Or am I missing something?

The 36 ideas from William of Ockham

9090 Knowledge is certain cognition of something that is true [William of Ockham]
9089 Knowledge is a quality existing subjectively in the soul [William of Ockham]
9091 Sometimes 'knowledge' just concerns the conclusion, sometimes the whole demonstration [William of Ockham]
16792 If parts change, the whole changes [William of Ockham]
9103 A universal is not a real feature of objects, but only a thought-object in the mind [William of Ockham]
9104 A universal is the result of abstraction, which is only a kind of mental picturing [William of Ockham]
16654 Our words and concepts don't always correspond to what is out there [William of Ockham]
9101 Abstractive cognition knows universals abstracted from many singulars [William of Ockham]
9100 Our intellect only assents to what we believe to be true [William of Ockham]
9111 God is not wise, but more-than-wise; God is not good, but more-than-good [William of Ockham]
9112 We could never form a concept of God's wisdom if we couldn't abstract it from creatures [William of Ockham]
9114 There are no secure foundations to prove the separate existence of mind, in reason or experience [William of Ockham]
9102 If an animal approached from a distance, we might abstract 'animal' from one instance [William of Ockham]
9115 To love God means to love whatever God wills to be loved [William of Ockham]
16757 Hot water naturally cools down, which is due to the substantial form of the water [William of Ockham]
16779 Cut wood doesn't make a new substance, but seems to make separate subjects [William of Ockham]
18529 Relations are expressed either as absolute facts, or by a relational concept [William of Ockham]
16599 Ockham says matter must be extended, so we don't need Quantity [William of Ockham, by Pasnau]
16608 Ockham was an anti-realist about the categories [William of Ockham, by Pasnau]
16681 Matter gets its quantity from condensation and rarefaction, which is just local motion [William of Ockham]
15388 Universals are single things, and only universal in what they signify [William of Ockham]
16300 Ockham had an early axiomatic account of truth [William of Ockham, by Halbach]
9105 Some concepts for propositions exist only in the mind, and in no language [William of Ockham]
9106 The word 'every' only signifies when added to a term such as 'man', referring to all men [William of Ockham]
9113 Just as unity is not a property of a single thing, so numbers are not properties of many things [William of Ockham]
9107 A proposition is true if its subject and predicate stand for the same thing [William of Ockham]
9110 The words 'thing' and 'to be' assert the same idea, as a noun and as a verb [William of Ockham]
9109 If essence and existence were two things, one could exist without the other, which is impossible [William of Ockham]
9108 From an impossibility anything follows [William of Ockham]
16675 Every extended material substance is composed of parts distant from one another [William of Ockham]
16676 Why use more things when fewer will do? [William of Ockham]
6806 Do not multiply entities beyond necessity [William of Ockham]
22132 Species and genera are individual concepts which naturally signify many individuals [William of Ockham]
16679 Even an angel must have some location [William of Ockham, by Pasnau]
8010 William of Ockham is the main spokesman for God's commands being the source of morality [William of Ockham]
19381 The past has ceased to exist, and the future does not yet exist, so time does not exist [William of Ockham]