Topics Existence

Question Can any one give an insightful analysis of statements such as God exists, There is only one God etc. What does "exist" mean ? Are there so many differnt types of existence- existence of the chair, the God, the concept of numbers, the existence of the electron, the wave-particle's dual existence, the existence of beauty, existence of UFO, existence of angels, existence of strings in the string theory, existence of mathematical objects such as N dimensional space, existence of dark matter, etc. Is this all a matter of linguistic naivety in the sense of some observations of Wittgenstein?

Accepted:
June 30, 2010

Comments

The medieval philosophers used to think of existence in terms of degrees, and some in modern philosophy entertained such an idea (Kant, for example, described God as the most real being). but usually existence is not treated as something that comes in kinds or degrees or in different senses. Actually, some philosophers seek to avoid the term 'exists' unless really pressed upon. So, for example, a philosopher might think it less misleading to say that Dumbledor is a character in Rowlings' novels rather than to say that Dumbledor exists in Rowlings' novels.

There are, however, two areas when 'existence' as a term / concept gets a bit tricky: some theologians believe that to claim 'God exists' is to treat God as simply one of any number of things that exist. Some of them, therefore, prefer simply to refer to God without the word 'exist' or 'existence' (e.g. affirming there is a God of love rather than claiming there exists a God of love). One philosopher in the last century speculated about whether there may be objects that neither exist or do not exist; he thought some things may subsist.