Art and Philosophy - Meinongian Issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Art and Philosophy - Meinongian Issue - Essay Example In Meinongan issue, there is an in-depth examination of several issues that arise in view of the connection that there are actually some things and factors which are actually non-existent. Philosophers normally seek to examine the following questions in determining if an object or certain subject is actually not existent: What is the basis or reasons for declaring that certain objects are in fact not existent? Assuming there are any nonexistent objects, what are their kinds and how are they determined? What are the criteria of the characterization of these objects as nonexistent? The position brought by fictions takes a story telling dimension. While a story teller is telling a fictional story the characters are actually his creations. As objects of his creation, a storyteller has the power to give the characters of his story qualities whose existence are not existent in the real world. The imagination of a person normally remains mere imagination. The objects just exist in abstracti on. The theory of intentionality as discussed later normally tells how we can intend our mental ability to view some objects differently. It is a fact that fictional story telling is a narration full of hyperbolic instances and can be said to be an act of pretence. The fictional discourse is discussed further below. Nonexistent objects as a concept Some philosophers, for example, Hume are of the opinion that the concept of nonexistent objects is in itself a paradox1. This stems from the idea that for anything to be declared not to exist is dependent on the fact that it had been initially presupposed to have existed. Such philosophers believe in what can be termed as positive identification of objects. This is to say that we can only identify what we can prove and substantiate. We can never talk of something as nonexistent yet we do not have proof of that. Other philosophers (Kant) explain that whatever exists is actually a real predicate2. He went ahead to explain this using Godâ₠¬â„¢s existence as an analogy. He inferred to the existence of God out of â€Å"ontological proof†. This is out of God’s perfection in creation. He also used other qualities of God such being omnipresent to cement his argument of existence as a real predicate. Assuming that these philosophers are right, this means then that the concept of nonexistent is not real. This is because it can never be a real predicate. Proving nonexistence evidentially is impossible. This therefore draws a conclusion that the concept of nonexistent is to a greater extent a self contradictory concept. In fact some philosophers state that the concept is actually and to some extent a violation of logical semantic flow of grammar. In order to believe in the concept of nonexistent there is need to ignore to some extent the views put across by some philosophers regarding this. Here the view that is adopted depends heavily on the predicate of individuals. This is stemmed from personal conception and what views a person may be having concerning the existence or non existence of an object. For instance, this can be illustrated by sentiments such as â€Å"some white elephants do exist†. From the statement it is inferred that not all white elephants are actually in existence. There are some particular white elephants that do not exist. The idea being stressed here is that in order