The state or fact of existing:; SYN. beingness, existence.
In philosophy, the basic state of existence shared by everything and everybody. Being is a fundamental notion in ontology and metaphysics generally, but particularly in idealism and existentialism.
Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle insisted that to say something exists adds nothing to its description. Being or existence is sometimes distinguished from subsistence, as by Austrian philosopher Alexius Meinong (1853–1920). Idealist philosophers tend to believe that there are not only different kinds but also different degrees of being. The American Willard Quine holds that “to be is to be the value of a variable” in a system of formal logic—that is, that to be or exist is always to have a quality or feature. The ontological argument for the existence of God turns on whether being can be a predicate or property. + prikaži više

ETYM Late Lat. entitas, from Latin ens, entis, thing, prop. p. pr. of esse to be: cf. French entité. Related to Essence, Is.
Anything having existence (living or nonliving); SYN. something.

ETYM Cf. French existence.
1. The state of existing; being.
2. Life; the duration of life.
In philosophy, what is common to everything that there is. Like being, existence is a fundamental notion in metaphysics generally. Existence can be contrasted with being, as in some types of existentialism; or it can be contrasted with essence, as in the work of Thomas Aquinas.
In medieval and rationalist metaphysics, existence is perfection. The ontological argument —God is perfect; existence is a perfection; therefore, God exists necessarily—turns on whether existence can be a predicate or property, which German philosopher Immanuel Kant denied. + prikaži više