The question of existence

The question of existence and what it means to be has been central in a number of human inquiries over the centuries, and it can be seen as a key issue in religion, philosophy, literature, and science, among other disciplines. Philosophers have considered the question, and three philosophers from very different eras and disciplines have answered these questions in different ways. Plato considered existence as a manifestation of perfection, recognizing that existence itself was not perfect but believing that perfection had to be the original pattern. Descartes accepted existence as a condition demonstrated by the fact that he could think, and human thought then becomes a reason for existence as well as a proof for it. Existentialists such as Sartre found irony in the fact of existence at all, and since existence must end, they reasoned, then being is itself a futile fact in universal terms.

Plato found that ideas, as he used the term, are not only something in human consciousness but something outside it as well. Platonic Ideas are subjective and do not depend on human thought but exist entirely in their own right. They are perfect patterns that exist in the very nature of things. Such an idea is not just a human idea but the idea of the universe itself, "an ideal entity that can express itself externally in concrete tangible form or internally as a concept in the human mind (Tarnas 10). Plato bases his view of the world on the idea that there are forms embodying th

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Category: Philosophy - T