On 3/9/2021 3:52 PM, Tomas Pales wrote:
On Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 12:29:07 AM UTC+1 Brent wrote:
On 3/9/2021 3:03 PM, Tomas Pales wrote:
The law of identity determines what can possibly exist, namely
that which is identical to itself. But what is the difference
between a possibly existing object and a "really" existing
object? I see no difference, and hence all possible objects
exist, necessarily.
So everything that does not exist is something that cannot
possibly exist. But does that mean in the future or just now. If
it means /just now/ then it's a trivial tautology, equivalent to
"It is what it is." and has no useful content. But if it means
now and the future, even confined to the near future, it's false.
When you talk about something you must define it. The temporal
position of an object is part of its definition (identity). So when
object X can exist at time t, then it must exist at time t. It's
trivial, just an example of the law of identity.
To which someone might say something like: "But there is a red
car parked in front of my house. Isn't it possible that, at this
moment, a blue car would be parked there instead? Then the blue
car would be a possible object that obviously doesn't exist." Um,
no. A red car can't be blue; that would be a contradiction, a
violation of the law of identity, and hence impossible. A blue
car might be parked in front of my house in a different possible
world but then we are talking about a different world, and not
really about my house either but rather about a copy of my house
in that other world - and the fact that you can't see that other
world is not a proof that it doesn't exist.
c.f. Russell's teapot.
c.f. Granny's glasses - when she can't find them, they don't exist
The question is what is the difference between a possibly existing
object and a "really" existing object? The fact that you don't see
something doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.
That you can put it's name in a sentence doesn't mean it does exist
either. Or even that it's (nomologically) possible.
Brent
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