The Non‐Existent and the Vaguely Existing

In Robert C. Koons & Timothy Pickavance (eds.), The atlas of reality: a comprehensive guide to metaphysics. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 253–280 (2017)
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Abstract

This chapter focuses on two clusters of questions concerning existence. The first cluster concerns the scope of existence, examining how wide the domain of existing things is and whether it encompass absolutely everything. The second cluster concerns vagueness and indeterminacy, explaining whether vague things and vague categories of things are there or all vagueness is a matter of referring indifferently to a large number of absolutely precise things and showing the ultimate source of vagueness. There are two theories of vagueness, epistemic and metaphysical. The chapter focuses on Meinongian definitions of 'existence' and examines four arguments in favor of Anti‐Actualism. The first and second respectively appeals to common sense and the need for intentional objects, that is, objects of certain mental attitudes. The third appeals to the need for fictional and illusory entities. And the fourth appeals to the need for non‐existent things as constituents of certain merely possible situations.

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Author Profiles

Timothy Pickavance
Biola University
Robert Charles Koons
University of Texas at Austin

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