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. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/3789ecde-ec7c-479c-9e41-796a92470080n%40googlegroups.com.
