Categories or Degrees of Existence (Agnosticism)

by George Jelliss , Crewe, Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 22:00 (5180 days ago)

Following on from a thought that I expressed in the thread on mathematics, I wonder if a lot of argument might be avoided if we agreed that "existence" can occur in different degrees or categories? -For instance dhw and DT lay much emphasis on subjective experiences and anecdotal evidence that I would discount. Perhaps claims based on such experiences can be said to refer to concepts having "subjective existence". Perhaps this is another name for "faith". Is it possible to separate arguments about things in the subjective world from those in the objective world? Perhaps this is what is meant by Gould's NOMA (non overlapping magisteria).-Even in the objective world there are arguably degrees of existence depending on the amount and certainty of evidence backing them up. For instance historical and legendary characters or events. There is a sense in which the past fades away as evidence and memory is eroded by time.

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GPJ