Squashed Philosophers Abridged Editions - Plato - The Republic. The perspectives of Nietzsche. Existence. First published Wed Oct 10, 2012 Existence raises deep and important problems in metaphysics, philosophy of language, and philosophical logic. Many of the issues can be organized around the following two questions: Is existence a property of individuals? And Assuming that existence is a property of individuals, are there individuals that lack it? What does it mean to ask if existence is a property?
There is a debate in the literature on properties between the abundant conception of properties, according to which there is a property corresponding to every natural language predicate and, more generally, every class of individuals, and the sparse conception of properties, according to which a predicate expresses a property only if the objects that predicate is true of resemble one another in an intrinsic way. The view that existence is not a property of individuals became the common view in the early 20th Century. 1. Russell's strategy depends on two claims. Perform Everyday Tasks for Free. Table of Contents. Philosophy since the Enlightenment, by Roger Jones.