In order to know whether the following statements are true or false, we need to know what exists:
_Abraham Lincoln does not exist, therefore the belief that I am shorter than Abraham Lincoln is false.
_Hamlet does not exist, therefore the belief that Hamlet procrastinates is false.
_Apollo does not exist, therefore the belief that Apollo is the son of Zeus is false.
_Round squares do not exist, therefore the belief that you cannot perceive a round square is false.
_Global warming does not exist.
_Numbers are not made of anything, therefore they do not exist.
Rey writes: “In arguing for ‘intentional inexistents’, I’m not arguing that they are some kind of special, metaphysically weird entity. “They” are nothing but, as we say, “things” that we take ourselves to perceive, think and regularly talk about, even though they don’t exist—nowhere, no how. It’s an interesting problem to understand how we manage to do this.” Quine writes: “Everything exists.” David Lewis believes that every possible world does exist, even world with a God and Max Tegmark believes that every logically possible world exists. So it’s clear we have a debate as to what exists.
_Anything that is a cause or an effect exists, and that which is neither a cause nor an effect does not exist.
_If consciousness causes beliefs, then beliefs are effects.
_If beliefs are effects and if effects exist, then beliefs exist.
_That which cannot be believed and is neither a cause nor an effect does not exist, or that which cannot be described does not exist.
(Dark Energy before 1998 existed but if humans had known about it they could have described it. Also I realize that this leads to a contradiction, nonbeing cannot be described but that in itself is a description, therefore, nonbeing can be described and it cannot be described. We will just put this contradiction to the side and move on.)
_That which does exist is either real or abstract.
_All causes have real existence. Therefore, if an entity is a cause then it has real (actual) existence, or it exists in reality.
_Either consciousness attempts to realize a belief or it does not. If consciousness attempts to realize a belief, then the effect has real existence and it is either a body or a sensation. If consciousness does not realize its belief then the belief has abstract existence.
_If consciousness successfully realizes a true belief, then that which it realizes has real existence.
(For example, buildings, cars, bridges, swimming, drinking - these are all the result of true belief, even though a bit of false belief might have contributed to their existence. This is the type of existence that people refer to in everyday language. When we say that the Soviet Union, Santa Claus, dreams, round squares do not exist, we mean they do not have true real existence. All other types of existence must be qualified. If we say Santa Claus exists then we have to ascribe some property to Santa Claus, such as he has delusional existence.)
_If consciousness attempts to realize a false belief, then the bodies they move and the sensations they feel have real existence but not all the things really exist that consciousness believes really exist. If this is the case, then this is delusional existence.
(For example, if I sacrifice a cow to Apollo, my sacrifice of the cow has real existence but my belief that this sacrifice will cause Apollo to be appeased has only delusional existence. Delusional existence has causation in the present but consciousness is mistaken what is really causing. In short, what the belief causes is real, but what consciousness believes causes is not real. Delusional existence has a strange mixture of the real and the abstract. To take another example, Victor Lustig sold the Eiffel Tower to Andre Poisson. Was the Eiffel Tower’s property of being up for sale real or delusional? If this property was real, then almost every consciousness and France would believe that someone could buy the Eiffel Tower and they would believe that the law would support them. If the property was delusional, then only Andre Poisson would believe this. The latter was the case. The money that Poisson gave to Victor Lustig had real existence but his belief that he could own the Eiffel Tower had only delusional existence.)
_If consciousness attempts to realize a false belief but knows the belief is false and struggles to realize it as much as they can for a practical purpose then the existence has fictional existence.
(For example, soldiers and firemen pretend that the enemy and fires really exist even though they do not and their purpose for these false beliefs is to train themselves. Actors have the false belief that they are Hamlet but they know this belief is false yet they persist in their behavior so as to entertain or educate the audience. Readers read fictional books which are full of false beliefs yet they read them because although these beliefs are false, (Leopold Bloom does not have real existence or even historic existence) they portray the world in such a way that the reader learns something about reality.)
_Either a belief was realized, can be realized or it cannot be realized. If it was realized, then it is historic. If a belief can be realized then it has possible existence. If it cannot be realized, then it has nonlogical (impossible) existence, such as a round-square.
(For example, a round square cannot be realized, no bodies can be moved such that a round square is brought into existence, the same applies to a married bachelor or a vertical horizon. It is true that a consciousness might fire a few synapses trying to imagine it or its implications but these realizations are trivial.)
_If a belief can be realized then it is either probable or improbable. If it has improbable existence but consciousness believes that it is probable then the existence is very much like delusional existence with exception that it concerns the future.
(For example, if I believe that aliens will eventually invade the planet, that is possible but extremely improbable. My beliefs will cause certain things such as my storing of supplies but what I believe will have causation in the future will probably not come to pass.)
By asking the following questions we can determine what type of existence an entity has.
Is the entity a cause or an effect? If neither, then it does not exist. If cause, then it is real. If it is an effect, then it is either real or abstract. All effects are due to the beliefs of consciousness. Does the belief describe a particular entity? If no, then it is a property and has abstract existence. If yes, then it is a belief. Then ask did consciousness attempt to realize the belief. If yes, then ask if the belief was true. If yes, then the belief has real existence. If no, then ask if consciousness knew that the belief was false. If yes, then it has fictional existence. If no, then it has delusional existence. Go back and ask whether consciousness attempted to realize the belief. If no, then ask if it was because the belief concerned a historic belief. If yes, then it has historic existence. If no, then ask if the belief is possible or impossible. If impossible then the belief has impossible existence. If yes, then ask if the belief is probable or improbable. If the former then it has probable existence, if the latter then it has improbable existence. In the chart below, the blue rectangles have abstract existence.
