Being

A being, in the most general sense, is anything that is alive. Being with a capital 'B', on the other hand, is often used in philosophy to refer to divine Being, God, or ultimate reality.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In philosophy, a being is anything that can be said to be. Ontology is the philosophical study of being. See also categories of being and "I think, therefore I am".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In linguistics, "to be" is a copula.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Being and substance in Aristotle

Among the first inquiries into what "being" encompassed was undertaken by Aristotle. The term "substance" in Aristotle was a precise metaphysical term denoting an individual thing about which specific assertions may be made.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Since the Aristotelian view of matter is negative, the "substance" or "being" is a real thing that exists. Since matter renders things more obscure to our perception, it follows that the true essence of an object is independent of matter, its "being" is independent of the material world.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To Aristotle, only spirits and God are independent of matter, and thus these entities are purely "substance" or "being." This is the origin of the phrase "One in substance with the Father" or modernly "One in being with the Father" in the Catholic Nicene Creed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Being in continental philosophy and existentialism

Some philosophers deny that the concept of "being" has any meaning at all, since we only define an object's existence by its relation to other objects, and actions it undertakes. The term "I am" has no meaning by itself; it must have an action or relation appended to it. This in turn has led to the thought that "being" and nothingness are closely related, developed in existential philosophy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Existentialist philosophers such as Sartre, as well as continental philosophers such as Hegel and Heidegger have also written extensively on the concept of being, distinguishing between the being of objects (being in itself) and the being of people (Geist (philosophy) in Hegel, Dasein in Heidegger, and being-for-itself and being-for-others in Sartre).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Philosophy: Philosophy is a discipline or field of study involving the investigation, analysis, and development of ideas at a general, abstract, or fundamental level. It is the discipline in search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means. The term...

Ontology: :This article discusses ontology in philosophy. For the term in computer science, see ontology (computer science)....

Categories of being: REDIRECT Category of being...