Non-obtaining states of affairs and Meinongianism?
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Non-obtaining states of affairs and Meinongianism?
a. There exist states of affairs that do not obtain / are not actual.
b. There are states of affairs that do not exist.
I admit I do not fully grasp what the difference is. In my mind, these both seem to imply a commitment to Meinongian possibilism: there are some things that do not exist - whether we say "exist" or "obtain" or "are actual", it sounds like word-play.
What is the relevant distinction between a state of affairs existing but not obtaining and being but not existing, which would make someone understand (a) and (b) as distinct theses?
- Felix
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Re: Non-obtaining states of affairs and Meinongianism?
Code: Select all
a. There exist states of affairs that do not obtain / are not actual.
b. There are states of affairs that do not exist.
A. = Imagined things.
B. = Things we can objectively verify do/do not exist.
Obviously A & B can overlap, e.g., we can imagine the existence of something but be unable to verify if it actually exists or is only imaginary. Or we can prove that something exists but be incapable of verifying whether our conception of it is true or imaginary.
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Re: Non-obtaining states of affairs and Meinongianism?
1. is limited to what has heretofore manifested; it's causally determined.
or
2. is not causally determined.
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Re: Non-obtaining states of affairs and Meinongianism?
The correspondence theory of truth includes that something is the case independently of what people might think is the case. If the correspondence theory of truth is the case then reality is fixed and will be manifested which is to say that reality already exists and only awaits inevitable manifestation.
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Re: Non-obtaining states of affairs and Meinongianism?
2024 Philosophy Books of the Month
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