Non-Existence

Paper Summary:

What is existence? This essay categorizes existence, with reference to the conceptions of reality made by Aristotle and Sartre. The paper asks if existence of something unknowable is possible? Is metaphysics a legitimate enterprise based on an authentic order to the world? The paer shows that existence is to be examined as whole and all encompassing, and that reality and non-reality are necessary components for experience.

From the Paper:

"When we consider our experience, and the "place" in which it occupies, many questions come to mind. What is this experience? Is what I experience all that exists? Do things out there exist? Why does this exist? And so on. It is my contention that all of these questions, and many others of a similar nature are all related in a fundamental way to the question of infinity. Naturally enough, when we think of infinity, we think of it pertaining to something, as a property of something. It is this question of whether a thing is finite or infinite that comes before all others, even whether it has the "property" of existence. This is due to the fact that finity and infinity define two possible values of existence. Finite existences have a subset of properties that establish its nature. Infinite existences, or possible existences, also have another subset of properties that establish its nature. It is my further contention that infinity represents an ultimate logical impossibility in the establishment of existence, and threatens the "wholeness" that establishes a reality. With that in mind, we can rule out the subset of properties associated with infinite existences, as they turn out to be the very properties of non-existence, which, as I will show, if a fundamental aspect to a reality itself. In short, this essay will systematize reality from non-reality, existence from non-existence using the notion of absolute finitude as a touchstone."

More papers on Non-Existence:

• Essay # 97470 : "Immaterialism vs. Non-Existence"
• Analytical Essay # 136282 : "'Quining Qualia' and Non-Existence"
• Analytical Essay # 139649 : "The Non-Identity Problem"

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