Metaphysics, God, Heaven et al is a science with a non-existent subject-matter,
Some of the classes into which we sort things are more comprehensive than others: all dogs are animals, but not all animals are dogs;
all animals are living organisms, but not all living organisms are animals ….
Some things (if they exist at all) are present only “in” other things: a smile, a haircut (product, not process), a hole …. Such things may be opposed to things that exist “in their own right”
The unmoved mover, (God) h/she who is (if you believe it) is causa sui self caused
or self created.
It must be emphasized that there is no universally accepted and precise definition of ‘substance’. Depending on how one understood the word (or the concept) one might say either that Hume denied that there were any substances or that he held that the only substances (or the only substances of which we have any knowledge) were impressions and ideas. It would seem, however, that most philosophers who are willing to use the word ‘substance’ at all would deny that any of the following (if they exist) are substances:
Some of the classes into which we sort things are more comprehensive than others: all dogs are animals, but not all animals are dogs;
all animals are living organisms, but not all living organisms are animals ….
Some things (if they exist at all) are present only “in” other things: a smile, a haircut (product, not process), a hole …. Such things may be opposed to things that exist “in their own right”
The unmoved mover, (God) h/she who is (if you believe it) is causa sui self caused
or self created.
It must be emphasized that there is no universally accepted and precise definition of ‘substance’. Depending on how one understood the word (or the concept) one might say either that Hume denied that there were any substances or that he held that the only substances (or the only substances of which we have any knowledge) were impressions and ideas. It would seem, however, that most philosophers who are willing to use the word ‘substance’ at all would deny that any of the following (if they exist) are substances:
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