An Interpretation of Existence

An INTERPRETATION of EXISTENCE

JOSEPH OWENS

CENTER FOR THOMISTIC STUDIES University of St. Thomas Houston, Texas 77006

Center for Thomistic Studies e dition 1985 Copyright© 1968 by the Bruce Publishing Company Reprinted with Permission All Rights Reserved

Aber doch eine Frage, die Frage: 1st das "Sein" ein blosses Wort und seine Bedeutung ein Dunst oder das �eistige . Schicksal .des Abendlandes? Martin Heidegger Einfiihrung in die Metaphysik, p . 28 Tiibingen, 1953 But still a question, the question: Is ''being" a mere word, and its meaning a haze or the spiritual destiny of the West? Library of C�ngress Cataloging in Publication Data Owens, Joseph. An interpretation of existence. Reprint. Originally published: Milwaukee: Bruce Pub. Co., 1968. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Ontology. I. Tide. 111'.1 84-23805 BD331.093 1985 ISBN 0-268-01157-5 (pbk.)

Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

I II

Problem of Existence

1

Grasp of Existence

14

III

Characteristics of Existence

44

IV

Cause of Existence

73

v

Bestowal of Existence

100

VI

Meaning of Existence

127

Index

151

AN INTERPRETATION OF EXISTENCE

CHAP TER

I

Problem of Existence

When examining doctoral candidates, a philosophy professor made a point of asking two questions. He would say abruptly to the student: "If I came suddenly through the door and siud to you, 'It is green,' what information would I be giving you?" The startled candidate, if he remained cool enough to keep his mind off the "door" and the "coming in sud­ denly," was expected to give a conventional answer based ultimately on Aristotle's categories- he would thereby know that the thing referred to by the "it" was colored, was per­ ceptible, was extended in space, was present in time, was a composite of substance and accident, was different from non-green things and was the subject of many other more or less obvious relations. The examiner would then follow abruptly with the second question: "If I simply said to you, 'It is,' would I be giving you any information at all?'' This second question was meant to prove much more difficult than the first. It could trigger a reply along the gen­ eral lines of the well-known development given it in Par­ menides' poem, in which an impressive array of predicates 1

AN

2

INTERPRETATION OF EXISTENCE

from was, in recent if not too exact parlance, "unpacked" hand, the the simple assertion