The roles of convention and experience in a unified theory of existence statements
Statements are made both in philosophy and in other disciplines about whether or not an item exists. Attention is normally focused on the answer, and therefore on the item posited, rather that on what is meant by the statement. Possibly as a result of this there seems to have developed a range of possible meanings to the assertion, denial or question of existence, and this in turn has given rise to various philosophical problems. An attempt is made here to simplify the situation. It is proposed that all existence statements carry the same import, and that if this were understood both confusions and disagreements would disappear. The investigation to this end proceeds (in Section I) by identifying the problems in the sphere of existence statements by means of historical examples, which in turn will show that in spite of attempted solutions residual problems remain. With these in mind a clarification of the subject is undertaken by considering (in Section II) a range of existence statements and the methods used for disputing and determining them. The conclusion reached is that the meaning of existence statements always depends both on convention or agreement on the one hand. and on experience or observation
Senior, Michael
Philosophy
The roles of convention and experience in a unified theory of existence statements. Statements are made both in philosophy and in other disciplines about whether or not an item exists. Attention is normally focused on the answer, and therefore on the item posited, rather that on what is meant by the statement. Possibly as a result of this there seems to have developed a range of possible meanings to the assertion, denial or question of existence, and this in turn has given rise to various philosophical problems. An attempt is made here to simplify the situation. It is proposed that all existence statements carry the same import, and that if this were understood both confusions and disagreements would disappear. The investigation to this end proceeds (in Section I) by identifying the problems in the sphere of existence statements by means of historical examples, which in turn will show that in spite of attempted solutions residual problems remain. With these in mind a clarification of the subject is undertaken by considering (in Section II) a range of existence statements and the methods used for disputing and determining them. The conclusion reached is that the meaning of existence statements always depends both on convention or agreement on the one hand. and on experience or observation
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