Word that means existence

What is the synonym of existence?

actuality being existing reality fact. survival continuance continuation subsistence living.

What is another word for human life?

humankind humanity
mankind man
mortals people
Homo sapiens human race
human species community

What is the synonym of already?

In this page you can discover 36 synonyms antonyms idiomatic expressions and related words for already like: also previously at-present so-far then but now by the time mentioned even now by-now now and just-now.

What is the adjective form of existence?

existent. / (ɪɡˈzɪstənt) / adjective. in existence extant current. having existence living.

What is the word for thinking about existence?

introspection Add to list Share. … When you examine what you do say think or feel and how it affects your life and the lives of others that’s introspection. It’s easy to piece together the meaning of the noun introspection.

What is a good sentence for existence?

1 He does not believe in the existence of ghosts. 2 We lead such a humdrum life/existence. 3 The idea of heaven presupposes the existence of God. 4 It is impossible to prove the existence of God.

See also extrusive igneous rocks form when what hardens and cools

What is the synonym of humility?

modesty humbleness modestness meekness lack of pride lack of vanity diffidence unassertiveness.

What is another word for already existing?

2. pre-existing. adjective. existing previously or before something.

What is the antonym for already?

What is the opposite of already?

after afterward
afterwards later
subsequently thereafter
next then
eventually latterly

Is it beforehand or beforehand?

Before is merely an outline of time in question prior to an event action date or time. Beforehand is the description of the duration of time outlined in question.

What is the literal meaning of existence?

1a : the state or fact of having being especially independently of human consciousness and as contrasted with nonexistence the existence of other worlds. b : the manner of being that is common to every mode of being.

What is verb form of existence?

exist. to be have existence have being or reality.

How do you describe existence?

Existence is the state of being alive or being real. … The noun existence can be used many different ways but it always has to do with being alive or with simply “being”. You can talk about the survival of something as its existence like your yo-yo club having lost so many members that its existence is in danger.

What is existential existence?

Existential is the adjective form of existence. … People who subscribe to this philosophy are called existentialists. They often come to the conclusion that life has no meaning by itself and that since humans have the freedom to make their own choices they have the responsibility to do so and to give meaning to life.

What word means to think deeply?

Some common synonyms of ponder are meditate muse and ruminate. While all these words mean “to consider or examine attentively or deliberately ” ponder implies a careful weighing of a problem or often prolonged inconclusive thinking about a matter.

What is another word for inner thoughts?

What is another word for inner thoughts?

subconscious mind
inner self subconscious mind
essential being subliminal self
submerged mind true being
undersense spirit

See also Where Are The Central Uplands Located?

What is the plural of existence?

existence. /ɪgˈzɪstəns/ plural existences.

How do you define existence in philosophy?

Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with physical reality. In philosophy it refers to the ontological property of being.

What is the synonym for empathy?

In this page you can discover 28 synonyms antonyms idiomatic expressions and related words for empathy like: compassion sympathy insight love understanding caring commiseration sensitivity understand vicarious emotion and pity.

What is a vanity person?

: the quality of people who have too much pride in their own appearance abilities achievements etc. : the quality of being vain.

What do you mean by intuition?

1 : the ability to know something without having proof. 2 : something known without proof I had an intuition you’d come. intuition. noun. in·​tu·​ition | ˌin-t(y)u̇-ˈish-ən

Is it preexisting or pre existing?

You can use pre- in ways that are redundant but it’s a valid prefix and preexisting has its own meaning. For instance if you want to describe dinosaurs in relation to humans existing doesn’t work but preexisting does.

What word means to build knowledge?

Learning is a common word that most often means the act of gaining knowledge.

What is a better word for Which?

In this page you can discover 23 synonyms antonyms idiomatic expressions and related words for which like: that and which and-that what whichever who whatever thus for-which therefore and so-that. Words That Rhyme With Orange.

Can could synonym?

What is another word for could?

would can
could perhaps could potentially
might possibly might potentially
potentially will may potentially
could possibly may actually

When did alright become a word?

The form alright is a one-word spelling of the phrase all right that made its first appearance in the 1880s. Alright is commonly used in written dialogue and informal writing but all right is the only acceptable form in edited writing.

What does mentioned beforehand mean?

1a : in anticipation. b : in advance. 2 : ahead of time : early. Synonyms & Antonyms Example Sentences Learn More About beforehand.

What does Afterhand mean?

adverb. Scottish US. Afterwards subsequently after the event. In modern US usage typically in contrast with beforehand and probably representing a separate development.

What is pre hand?

in anticipation in advance ahead of time: We should have made reservations beforehand.

What is the best definition of existence?

the state or fact of existing being. continuance in being or life life: a struggle for existence. mode of existing: They were working for a better existence. … something that exists entity being.

Is there such thing as nothingness?

There is no such thing as nothingness and zero does not exist.

What do you call something that exists?

wiktionary entity means “That which has a distinct existence as an individual unit” or “An existent something that has the properties of being real and having a real existence”. You might also consider terms like stocked items things on hand tools.

What is this word existed?

to have actual being be: The world exists whether you like it or not. to have life or animation live. to continue to be or live: Belief in magic still exists. to have being in a specified place or under certain conditions be found occur: Hunger exists in many parts of the world.

What it means exist?

to have actual being be: The world exists whether you like it or not. to have life or animation live. to continue to be or live: Belief in magic still exists. to have being in a specified place or under certain conditions be found occur: Hunger exists in many parts of the world.

Scientists Believe a Parallel Universe Exists

Episode 36: What is another word for…

Where do new words come from? – Marcel Danesi

What is Existence? (Part 1 of 3)

Other forms: existences

Existence is the state of being alive or being real. For example, you and your best friend disagree about the existence of Bigfoot if you think it’s real and your friend doesn’t.

The noun existence can be used many different ways, but it always has to do with being alive or with simply «being». You can talk about the survival of something as its existence, like your yo-yo club having lost so many members that its existence is in danger. The particular way you live is another meaning of existence; if you live a quiet, lonely life in the country, you could describe it as a solitary existence.

Definitions of existence

  1. noun

    the state or fact of existing

    “laws in
    existence for centuries”

    synonyms:

    being, beingness

    see moresee less

    Antonyms:

    nonbeing

    the state of not being

    nonentity, nonexistence

    the state of not existing

    show more antonyms…
    types:

    show 33 types…
    hide 33 types…
    actuality

    the state of actually existing objectively

    eternity, timeless existence, timelessness

    a state of eternal existence believed in some religions to characterize the afterlife

    preexistence

    existing in a former state or previous to something else

    coexistence

    existing peacefully together

    subsistence

    the state of existing in reality; having substance

    presence

    the state of being present; current existence

    life

    the course of existence of an individual; the actions and events that occur in living

    aliveness, animation, life, living

    the condition of living or the state of being alive

    life

    a characteristic state or mode of living

    transcendence, transcendency

    a state of being or existence above and beyond the limits of material experience

    possibility, possibleness

    capability of existing or happening or being true

    entelechy

    (Aristotle) the state of something that is fully realized; actuality as opposed to potentiality

    genuineness

    the state of being genuine

    realism, reality, realness

    the state of being actual or real

    reality

    the state of the world as it really is rather than as you might want it to be

    the true, trueness, truth, verity

    conformity to reality or actuality

    eternal life, life eternal

    life without beginning or end

    immanence, immanency

    the state of being within or not going beyond a given domain

    inherence, inherency

    the state of inhering; the state of being a fixed characteristic

    ubiety

    the state of existing and being localized in space

    omnipresence, ubiquitousness, ubiquity

    the state of being everywhere at once (or seeming to be everywhere at once)

    hereness

    the state of being here in this place

    thereness

    the state of being there—not here—in position

    thereness

    real existence

    occurrence

    an instance of something occurring

    shadow

    a dominating and pervasive presence

    skin

    a person’s skin regarded as their life

    endurance, survival

    a state of surviving; remaining alive

    ghetto

    any segregated mode of living or working that results from bias or stereotyping

    conceivability, conceivableness

    the state of being conceivable

    achievability, attainability, attainableness

    the state of being achievable

    potency, potential, potentiality

    the inherent capacity for coming into being

    chance, opportunity

    a possibility due to a favorable combination of circumstances

    type of:

    state

    the way something is with respect to its main attributes

  2. noun

    everything that exists anywhere

    “the biggest tree in
    existence

    synonyms:

    cosmos, creation, macrocosm, universe, world

    see moresee less

    types:

    closed universe

    (cosmology) a universe that is spatially closed and in which there is sufficient matter to halt the expansion that began with the big bang; the visible matter is only 10 percent of the matter required for closure but there may be large amounts of dark matter

    natural order

    the physical universe considered as an orderly system subject to natural (not human or supernatural) laws

    environment, nature

    (with ‘the’) the natural physical world including plants, animals, landscapes, etc.

    type of:

    natural object

    an object occurring naturally; not made by man

DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘existence’.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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Bolzano took this dictum to be about existence in his own narrow sense of ˜existence™ or ❋ Gerard Varni (2009)

If, rejecting the word Thing, we endeavour to find another of a more general import, or at least more exclusively confined to that general import, a word denoting all that exists, and connoting only simple existence; no word might be presumed fitter for such a purpose than _being_: originally the present participle of a verb which in one of its meanings is exactly equivalent to the verb _exist_; and therefore suitable, even by its grammatical formation, to be the concrete of the abstract _existence_. ❋ John Stuart Mill (1839)

One of the things that make Glock pistols some of the safest in existence is their unique Safe Action System. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Any fictional character in existence is eligible for this list. ❋ Unknown (2009)

The book, one of seven in existence, is referenced in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. ❋ Unknown (2007)

A fine art facsimile edition of one of the greatest medieval illuminated manuscripts in existence is published by the British Library, in association with Faksimile Verlag Luzern, on 23 March 2007. ❋ Unknown (2007)

The science fiction now in existence is no longer «science.» ❋ Unknown (2006)

I’ll answer your first question: The finest salsa in existence is Salsa Magnifico’s Raspberry Salsa, available for a piddling price considering what you get. ❋ Unknown (2006)

She works on an antiquated computer (15 years old – the only other one of its type still in existence is in the Science Museum!). ❋ Sharon Bakar (2004)

Some have been in existence from the beginning and others come and go. ❋ Unknown (2004)

The existence—if the word existence applies to that which precedes our universe—of the eternal metaphysical is a scientific reality. ❋ GERALD L. SCHROEDER (2001)

How to eat, how to maintain existence, is the problem that has confronted woman, as well as man, since the ages dawned for her. ❋ Unknown (1909)

From Black Venus, the punishing story of hermaphrodite Sarah «Saartjie» Baartman: «Maybe her existence is a sign of some kind from God.» ❋ Michael Vazquez (2010)

[email protected]#$ [my existence] ❋ Hsvgdhjxwceg (2019)

All there is, is existence — [everywhere] ❋ Bob (2003)

[Existence is pain]! -Mr. [Meeseeks] ❋ Imanangrybird (2017)

person 1: [tell me] a word [thet] describes you [at best]
person 2: uuuuh, existence i guess i don’t why?
person 1: nothing don’t worry :) ❋ Osama Been Laggin (2021)

The great [quest] for ,The [existence of the existence] has kept many a [philosopher] up late at night ❋ Cadillac Crumb (2021)

[i exist] ❋ [Ribbon] (2018)

I don’t see how you don’t get the [description], [existing] is pretty [straight forward] ❋ ThatOneKidDrew (2017)

Person: “[I exist]!”
[Everybody else]: “[We know]” ❋ PersonWhoExist (2020)

Kid: Mom, what is [my existence]?
Mom: [Welcome] to the club. We all here are [suffering]. ❋ Suck My Piano (2019)

«Your definately the most excellant guitarest in existance.» [—a] [complete idiot]
Maybe if you weren’t functionally [illiterate], you’d have a more «excellant» job. ❋ Pick Up A Book, You Moron (2006)

For other uses, see Existence (disambiguation).

Philosophy

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In common usage, existence is the world we are aware of through our senses, and that persists independently without them. In academic philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning, being contrasted with essence, which specifies different forms of existence as well as different identity conditions for objects and properties. Philosophers investigate questions such as «What exists?», «How do we know?», «To what extent are the senses a reliable guide to existence?», and «What is the meaning, if any, of assertions of the existence of categories, ideas, and abstractions?»

Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality in general, as well as of the basic categories of being and their relations. Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics, ontology deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and differences. A lively debate continues about the existence of God.

Epistemology studies criteria of truth, defining «primary truths» inherently accepted in the investigation of knowledge. The first is existence. It is inherent in every analysis. Its self-evident, a priori nature cannot be consistently doubted, since a person objecting to existence according to some standard of proof must implicitly accept the standard’s existence as a premise.[1]

Materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter, that all things are composed of material, and all phenomena (including consciousness) are the result of material interactions.

Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have self-sustaining biological processes that exist from those that do not[2][3] —either because such functions have ceased (death), or else because they lack such functions and are classified as «inanimate».[4]

Contents

  • 1 Etymology
  • 2 Historical conceptions
    • 2.1 Early modern philosophy
  • 3 Predicative nature
    • 3.1 Semantics
  • 4 Modern approaches
    • 4.1 Existence in the wide and narrow senses
    • 4.2 European views
    • 4.3 Anti-realist arguments
  • 5 Dharmic «middle way» view
  • 6 See also
  • 7 Notes
  • 8 References
  • 9 External links

Etymology

The word «existence» comes from the Latin word existere meaning «to appear», «to arise», «to become», or «to be», but literally, it means «to stand out» (ex- being the Latin prefix for «out» added to the Latin verb stare, meaning «to stand»).

Historical conceptions

In the Western tradition of philosophy, the first comprehensive treatments of the subject are from Plato’s Phaedo, Republic, and Statesman and Aristotle’s Metaphysics, though earlier fragmentary writing exists. Aristotle developed a complicated theory of being, according to which only individual things, called substances, fully have being, but other things such as relations, quantity, time, and place (called the categories) have a derivative kind of being, dependent on individual things. In Aristotle’s Metaphysics, there are four causes of existence or change in nature: the material cause, the formal cause, the efficient cause, and the final cause.

The Neo-Platonists and some early Christian philosophers argued about whether existence had any reality except in the mind of God. Some taught that existence was a snare and a delusion, that the world, the flesh, and the devil existed only to tempt weak humankind away from God.

The medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas, perhaps following the Islamic philosopher Avicenna, argued that God is pure being, and that in God essence and existence are the same. At about the same time, the nominalist philosopher William of Ockham argued, in Book I of his Summa Totius Logicae (Treatise on all Logic, written some time before 1327), that Categories are not a form of Being in their own right, but derivative on the existence of individuals.

Early modern philosophy

The early modern treatment of the subject derives from Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole’s Logic, or The Art of Thinking, better known as the Port-Royal Logic, first published in 1662. Arnauld thought that a proposition or judgment consists of taking two different ideas and either putting them together or rejecting them:

After conceiving things by our ideas, we compare these ideas and, finding that some belong together and others do not, we unite or separate them. This is called affirming or denying, and in general judging. This judgment is also called a proposition, and it is easy to see that it must have two terms. One term, of which one affirms or denies something, is called the subject; the other term, which is affirmed or denied, is called the attribute or Praedicatum.

—Antoine Arnauld, The Art of Thinking (Port-Royal Logic),(1662) (translated J. Buroker 1996), Logic, II.3, page 82

The two terms are joined by the verb «is» (or «is not», if the predicate is denied of the subject). Thus every proposition has three components: the two terms, and the «copula» that connects or separates them. Even when the proposition has only two words, the three terms are still there. For example «God loves humanity», really means «God is a lover of humanity», «God exists» means «God is a thing».

This theory of judgment dominated logic for centuries, but it has some obvious difficulties: it only considers proposition of the form «All A are B.», a form logicians call universal. It does not allow propositions of the form «Some A are B», a form logicians call existential. If neither A nor B includes the idea of existence, then «some A are B» simply adjoins A to B. Conversely, if A or B do include the idea of existence in the way that «triangle» contains the idea «three angles equal to two right angles», then «A exists» is automatically true, and we have an ontological proof of A’s existence. (Indeed Arnauld’s contemporary Descartes famously argued so, regarding the concept «God» (discourse 4, Meditation 5)). Arnauld’s theory was current until the middle of the nineteenth century.

David Hume argued that the claim that a thing exists, when added to our notion of a thing, does not add anything to the concept. For example, if we form a complete notion of Moses, and superadd to that notion the claim that Moses existed, we are not adding anything to the notion of Moses.

Kant also argued that existence is not a «real» predicate, but gave no explanation of how this is possible. Indeed, his famous discussion of the subject is merely a restatement of Arnauld’s doctrine that in the proposition «God is omnipotent», the verb «is» signifies the joining or separating of two concepts such as «God» and «omnipotence».[original research?]

Schopenhauer claimed that “everything that exists for knowledge, and hence the whole of this world, is only object in relation to the subject, perception of the perceiver, in a word, representation.”[5] According to him there can be «No object without subject» because «everything objective is already conditioned as such in manifold ways by the knowing subject with the forms of its knowing, and presupposes these forms…»[6]

Predicative nature

John Stuart Mill (and also Kant’s pupil Herbart) argued that the predicative nature of existence was proved by sentences like «A centaur is a poetic fiction»[7] or «A greatest number is impossible» (Herbart).[8] Franz Brentano challenged this; so also (as is better known) did Frege. Brentano argued that we can join the concept represented by a noun phrase «an A» to the concept represented by an adjective «B» to give the concept represented by the noun phrase «a B-A». For example, we can join «a man» to «wise» to give «a wise man». But the noun phrase «a wise man» is not a sentence, whereas «some man is wise» is a sentence. Hence the copula must do more than merely join or separate concepts. Furthermore, adding «exists» to «a wise man», to give the complete sentence «a wise man exists» has the same effect as joining «some man» to «wise» using the copula. So the copula has the same effect as «exists». Brentano argued that every categorical proposition can be translated into an existential one without change in meaning and that the «exists» and «does not exist» of the existential proposition take the place of the copula. He showed this by the following examples:

The categorical proposition «Some man is sick» has the same meaning as the existential proposition «A sick man exists» or «There is a sick man».
The categorical proposition «No stone is living» has the same meaning as the existential proposition «A living stone does not exist» or «there is no living stone».
The categorical proposition «All men are mortal» has the same meaning as the existential proposition «An immortal man does not exist» or «there is no immortal man».
The categorical proposition «Some man is not learned» has the same meaning as the existential proposition «A non-learned man exists» or «there is a non-learned man».

Frege developed a similar view (though later) in his great work The Foundations of Arithmetic, as did Charles Sanders Peirce (but Peirce held that the possible and the real are not limited to the actually, individually existent). The Frege-Brentano view is the basis of the dominant position in modern Anglo-American philosophy: that existence is asserted by the existential quantifier (as expressed by Quine’s slogan «To be is to be the value of a variable.» — On What There Is, 1948).[9]

Semantics

In mathematical logic, there are two quantifiers, «some» and «all», though as Brentano (1838–1917) pointed out, we can make do with just one quantifier and negation. The first of these quantifiers, «some». is also expressed as «there exists». Thus, in the sentence «There exists a man», the term «man» is asserted to be part of existence. But we can also assert, «There exists a triangle.» Is a «triangle» — an abstract idea — part of existence in the same way that a «man» — a physical body — is part of existence? Do abstractions such as goodness, blindness, and virtue exist in the same sense that chairs, tables, and houses exist? What categories, or kinds of thing, can be the subject or the predicate of a proposition?

Worse, does «existence» exist?[10]

In some statements, existence is implied without being mentioned. The statement «A bridge crosses the Thames at Hammersmith» cannot just be about a bridge, the Thames, and Hammersmith. It must be about «existence» as well. On the other hand, the statement «A bridge crosses the Styx at Limbo» has the same form, but while in the first case we understand a real bridge in the real world made of stone or brick, what «existence» would mean in the second case is less clear.

The nominalist approach is to argue that certain noun phrases can be «eliminated» by rewriting a sentence in a form that has the same meaning, but does not contain the noun phrase. Thus Ockham argued that «Socrates has wisdom», which apparently asserts the existence of a reference for «wisdom», can be rewritten as «Socrates is wise», which contains only the referring phrase «Socrates». This method became widely accepted in the twentieth century by the analytic school of philosophy.

However, this argument may be inverted by realists in arguing that since the sentence «Socrates is wise» can be rewritten as «Socrates has wisdom», this proves the existence of a hidden referent for «wise».

A further problem is that human beings seem to process information about fictional characters in much the same way that they process information about real people. For example, in the 2008 United States presidential election, a politician and actor named Fred Thompson ran for the Republican Party nomination. In polls, potential voters identified Fred Thompson as a «law and order» candidate. Thompson plays a fictional character on the television series Law and Order. Doubtless the people who make the comment are aware that Law and Order is fiction, but at some level, they process fiction as if it were fact.[dubious – discuss][citation needed] Another example of this is the common experience of actresses who play the villain in a soap opera being accosted in public as if they are to blame for the actions of the characters they play.

A scientist might make a clear distinction about objects that exist, and assert that all objects that exist are made up of either matter or energy. But in the layperson’s worldview, existence includes real, fictional, and even contradictory objects. Thus if we reason from the statement «Pegasus flies» to the statement «Pegasus exists», we are not asserting that Pegasus is made up of atoms, but rather that Pegasus exists in a particular worldview, the worldview of classical myth. When a mathematicians reasons from the statement «ABC is a triangle» to the statement «triangles exist», she is not asserting that triangles are made up of atoms but rather that triangles exist within a particular mathematical model.

Modern approaches

According to Bertrand Russell’s Theory of Descriptions, the negation operator in a singular sentence can take either wide or narrow scope: we distinguish between «some S is not P» (where negation takes «narrow scope») and «it is not the case that ‘some S is P'» (where negation takes «wide scope»). The problem with this view is that there appears to be no such scope distinction in the case of proper names. The sentences «Socrates is not bald» and «it is not the case that Socrates is bald» both appear to have the same meaning, and they both appear to assert or presuppose the existence of someone (Socrates) who is not bald, so that negation takes narrow scope.

The theory of descriptions has generally fallen into disrepute, though there have been recent attempts to revive it by Stephen Neale and Frank Jackson. According to the direct-reference view, an early version of which was originally proposed by Bertrand Russell, and perhaps earlier by Gottlob Frege, a proper name strictly has no meaning when there is no object to which it refers. This view relies on the argument that the semantic function of a proper name is to tell us which object bears the name, and thus to identify some object. But no object can be identified if none exists. Thus, a proper name must have a bearer if it is to be meaningful.

Existence in the wide and narrow senses

According to the «two sense» view of existence, which derives from Alexius Meinong, existential statements fall into two classes.

  1. Those asserting existence in a wide sense. These are typically of the form «N is P» for singular N, or «some S is P».
  2. Those asserting existence in a narrow sense. These are typically of the form «N exists» or «Ss exist».

The problem is then evaded as follows. «Pegasus flies» implies existence in the wide sense, for it implies that something flies. But it does not imply existence in the narrow sense, for we deny existence in this sense by saying that Pegasus does not exist. In effect, the world of all things divides, on this view, into those (like Socrates, the planet Venus, and New York City) that have existence in the narrow sense, and those (like Sherlock Holmes, the goddess Venus, and Minas Tirith) that do not.

However, common sense suggests the non-existence of such things as fictional characters or places.

European views

Influenced by the views of Brentano’s pupil Alexius Meinong, and by Edmund Husserl, Germanophone and Francophone philosophy took a different direction regarding the question of existence.

Anti-realist arguments

Anti-realism is the view of idealists who are skeptics about the physical world, maintaining either: 1) that nothing exists outside the mind, or 2) that we would have no access to a mind-independent reality even if it may exist. Realists, in contrast, hold that perceptions or sense data are caused by mind-independent objects. An «anti-realist» who denies that other minds exist (i. e., a solipsist) is different from an «anti-realist» who claims that there is no fact of the matter as to whether or not there are unobservable other minds (i. e., a logical behaviorist).

Dharmic «middle way» view

The Indian philosopher Nagarjuna (c. 150 — 250 CE) largely advanced existence concepts and founded the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

In eastern philosophy, Anicca (Sanskrit anitya) or «impermanence» describes existence. It refers to the fact that all conditioned things (sankhara) are in a constant state of flux. In reality there is no thing that ultimately ceases to exist; only the appearance of a thing ceases as it changes from one form to another. Imagine a leaf that falls to the ground and decomposes. While the appearance and relative existence of the leaf ceases, the components that formed the leaf become particulate material that goes on to form new plants. Buddhism teaches a middle way, avoiding the extreme views of eternalism and nihilism.[11] The middle way recognizes there are vast differences between the way things are perceived to exist and the way things really exist. The differences are reconciled in the concept of Shunyata by addressing the existing object’s served purpose for the subject’s identity in being. What exists is in non-existence, because the subject changes.

Trailokya elaborates on three kinds of existence, those of desire, form, and formlessness in which there are karmic rebirths. Taken further to the Trikaya doctrine, it describes how the Buddha exists. In this philosophy, it is accepted that the Buddha exists in more than one absolute way.

See also

  • Being
  • Cogito ergo sum
  • Conservation law
  • Cosmogony
  • Cosmological argument
  • Existence precedes essence
  • Existence theorem
  • Existentialism
  • Existential operator
  • Gödel’s ontological proof
  • Gaunilo of Marmoutiers
  • Identity and change
  • Meaning of life
  • Performative contradiction
  • Right to exist
  • Solipsism
  • Three marks of existence

Notes

  1. ^ Dolhenty, Jonathan. «Part Thirteen:The Criterion of Truth». The Problem of Knowledge: A brief introduction to epistemology. http://www.radicalacademy.com/epistom.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  2. ^ Koshland Jr, Daniel E. (March 22, 2002). «The Seven Pillars of Life». Science 295. (5563): 2215–2216. doi:10.1126/science.1068489. PMID 11910092. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/295/5563/2215. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, via Answers.com:
    • «The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism.»
    • «The characteristic state or condition of a living organism.»
  4. ^ Definition of inanimate. WordNet Search by Princeton University.
  5. ^ The World as Will and Representation, vol. I, § 1
  6. ^ The World as Will and Representation, vol. I, § 7
  7. ^ John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic, 1843 I. iv. 1.page 124
  8. ^ Uberweg (System of Logic) §68
  9. ^ On What There Is — in Review of Metaphysics (1948). Reprinted in W.V.O. Quine, From a Logical Point of View (Harvard University Press, 1953)
  10. ^ To exist is to have a specific relation to existence — a relation, by the way, which existence itself does not have. Bertrand Russell — The Principles of Mathematics — New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1903, second edition 1937 pages 449-450.
  11. ^ The Buddhist Publication Society. «The Three Basic Facts of Existence». http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/various/wheel186.html. Retrieved 2009-07-14. «(ref.1) Change or impermanence is the essential characteristic of all phenomenal existence. We cannot say of anything, animate or inanimate, organic or inorganic, «this is lasting»; for even while we are saying this, it would be undergoing change. All is fleeting; the beauty of flowers, the bird’s melody, the bee’s hum, and a sunset’s glory.»

References

  • Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole ‘Logic’, or The Art of Thinking, (known as the Port-Royal Logic), translated J. Buroker, Cambridge 1996
  • Mill, J.S., A System of Logic, 8th edition 1908
  • Loux, M., Ockham’s Theory Of Terms (translation of book I of the Summa Logicae c-1327).
  • Plato, The Republic, translated by Desmond Lee, Penguin Classics, 2003, ISBN 0-14-044914-0, ISBN 978-0-14-044914-3
  • Aristotle, The Metaphysics, translated by Hugh Lawson-Tancred, Penguin Classics, 1999, ISBN 0-14-044619-2, ISBN 978-0-14-044619-7
  • Heraclitus, Fragments, James Hilton, forward, Brooks Hexton, translator, Penguin Classics, 2003, ISBN 0-14-243765-4, ISBN 978-0-14-243765-0.
  • The Meaning of Life, Terry Eagleton, Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 0-19-921070-5 ISBN 978-0-19-921070-1
  • The Story of Philosophy, Bryan Magee, Dorling Kindersley Lond. 1998, ISBN 0-7513-0590-1
  • What is Existence?, C.J.F. Williams, Oxford University Press, 1981

External links

  • Existence entry by Barry Miller in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2002-05-24
  • The Concept of Existence. History and Definitions from Leading Philosophers
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  • Defenition of the word existence

    • The state of being.
    • the state or fact of existing: «a point of view gradually coming into being»; «laws in existence for centuries»
    • everything that exists anywhere; «they study the evolution of the universe»; «the biggest tree in existence»
    • the state or fact of existing; «a point of view gradually coming into being»; «laws in existence for centuries»
    • everything that exists anywhere
    • the state or fact of existing

Synonyms for the word existence

    • being
    • beingness
    • continuation
    • cosmos
    • creation
    • life
    • macrocosm
    • nature
    • reality
    • subsistence
    • survival
    • universe
    • way of life
    • world

Similar words in the existence

    • existence
    • existence’s
    • existences

Meronymys for the word existence

    • celestial body
    • heavenly body

Hyponyms for the word existence

    • actuality
    • aliveness
    • animation
    • closed universe
    • coexistence
    • eternity
    • life
    • living
    • natural order
    • nature
    • possibility
    • possibleness
    • preexistence
    • presence
    • subsistence
    • timeless existence
    • timelessness
    • transcendence
    • transcendency

Hypernyms for the word existence

    • natural object
    • state

Antonyms for the word existence

    • nonbeing
    • nonentity
    • nonexistence

See other words

    • What is fastening
    • The definition of excursus
    • The interpretation of the word excommunicate
    • What is meant by excise
    • The lexical meaning exception
    • The dictionary meaning of the word ewe
    • The grammatical meaning of the word eviscerator
    • Meaning of the word evil
    • Literal and figurative meaning of the word evergreen
    • The origin of the word exocarp
    • Synonym for the word exodontia
    • Antonyms for the word exonym
    • Homonyms for the word faucet
    • Hyponyms for the word expendable
    • Holonyms for the word explanation
    • Hypernyms for the word explorer
    • Proverbs and sayings for the word fauvism
    • Translation of the word in other languages export

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