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Ideas for 'Causality: Reductionism versus Realism', 'works' and 'What Does It Take to Refer?'

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7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 6. Criterion for Existence

3534	To be is to have causal powers [Alexander,S]
	Full Idea: To be is to have causal powers.
	From: Samuel Alexander (works [1927], §4), quoted by Jaegwon Kim - Nonreductivist troubles with ment.causation
	A reaction: This is sometimes called Alexander's Principle. It is first found in Plato, and is popular with physicalists, but there are problem cases... A thing needs to exist in order to have causal powers. To exist is more than to be perceived.