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Ideas for 'Issues of Pragmaticism', 'fragments/reports' and 'Causation and Explanation'

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2 ideas

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 6. Criterion for Existence
Whatever participates in substance exists [Zeno of Citium, by Stobaeus]
     Full Idea: Zeno says that whatever participates in substance exists.
     From: report of Zeno (Citium) (fragments/reports [c.294 BCE]) by John Stobaeus - Anthology 2.05a
     A reaction: This seems Aristotelian, implying that only objects exist. Unformed stuff would not normally qualify as a 'substance'. So does mud exist? See the ideas of Henry Laycock.
The 'epistemic fallacy' is inferring what does exist from what can be known to exist [Psillos]
     Full Idea: The move from what can (or cannot) be known to exist to what does (or does not) exist has been dubbed the 'epistemic fallacy'.
     From: Stathis Psillos (Causation and Explanation [2002], §1.6)
     A reaction: This should be a standard concept in all philosophical discussion. It is the commonest, simplest, and most profound blunder made by philosophers, and they do it all the time.