Frances to Geoff and others...
The issue raised about existence is a good one, in that some
phenomenal stuff of art or nonart seems to exist while other
phenomenal stuff seems not to exist, therefore there may be a
substantial difference between what exists and what does not
exist. Some differences of course may lay with the opposing poles
of generals and specials, while others may be found with the
poles of objectivity and subjectivity. For realist pragmatism all
phenomena are felt as being in the world to some extent, but not
all phenomena are sensed nor sensed to "exist" and those
phenomena that are sensed to exist are not all mental visions or
notions or nominations made in the mind, because some existent
facts are objective material constructs that exist aside from
life and sense and mind, yet all phenomena felt or sensed or
known to exist in fact as some apparent "reality" are indeed
mental constructs. This pragmatist stance on existence and
reality stated roughly by me turns on representation, and it is a
tentative stance for pragmatists, but it seems a reasonable
position nonetheless. It will be interesting to see if the issue
is addressed by others and convincingly.
