inexistence
See also: in existence
English
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
inexistence (usually uncountable, plural inexistences)
- The state of not being, not existing, or not being perceptible.
- 1648, Robert Boyle, Seraphic Love[1], 1997 Kessinger ed. edition, →ISBN, page 57:
- Our inexistence indeed was a condition, wherein nothing in us was capable of being a motive of God's love; but our enmity proceeded further, and made us worthy of his detestation; […]
- 1941, Giuseppe di Gioia, Swift are the Shadows[2], page 78:
- In order to prove the inexistence of God, he challenged Him to strike him down in five minutes while timing himself with a watch.
- 2007, Jacques-Alain Miller, “The Sinthome, A Mixture of Symptom and Fantasy”, in The Later Lacan[3], →ISBN, page 57:
- Axiomatics (namely, that everything that will be used for the purposes of a demonstration is explained) does nothing more than formalizing this wiping clean — in other words, inexistence is posed as the condition for necessity to emerge.
- The state of existing in something
- 1663, Isaac Barrow, “A Defence of the Blessed Trinity”, in The Theological Works of Isaac Barrow[4], published 1830, page 188:
- that there is a mutual inexistence of one in all, and all in one; […]
- 1854, Christopher Walton, Notes and Materials for an Adequate Biography of the Celebrated Divine and Theosopher: William Law[5], page 207:
- She distinguished as to this, the inexistence in God from eternity, and the figurative manifestation in time.
- That which exists within; a constituent.
- 1768-1777, Abraham Tucker, The Light of Nature Pursued
- where could they find such receptacle for their inexistence
- 1768-1777, Abraham Tucker, The Light of Nature Pursued
Usage notes
- In modern philosophical writing, this is chiefly used with the sense "nonexistence" as a literal translation or calque of a corresponding term in another European language, such as the German Inexistenz or the Spanish inexistencia.
Synonyms
- (not existing): nonexistence, absence, lack; See also Thesaurus:inexistence
- (existing within): inherence; See also Thesaurus:intrinsicality
Related terms
French
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Noun
inexistence f (plural inexistences)
Further reading
- “inexistence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
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