404 Error Page
Requested Page Does Not Exist
The requested page has been renamed, relocated, or removed due to "artistic differences." Perhaps the page never existed at all, but then what is the definition of existence? Jean-Paul Sartre stated that "existence precedes essence." Is there an existence to abstract objects, such as qualities, relations, or numbers.
The dictionary defines existence as the "fact or state of continued being; life: our brief existence on Earth." Can a web page ever "exist?" Does perception create existence? Does the page exist only when we perceive it? Or is there existence without perception? Can such concepts of existence relate to an object which has not yet been created, or has now been destroyed?
Generally, metaphysics seeks to answer the basic question, "what does it mean to exist?" Examining different possible answers and extrapolating their consequences can keep one occupied for days at a time.
Before the development of consciousness, the identity of a word with its referent would have been absolute. Carrying the notion of identity into conscious thinking is the added complexity of a narrated internal space where words can wander around disassociated from any object.
As Plato once so eloquently elaborated, "is the external world subordinate to language?" How do these concepts relate to our newly created virtual universe? Where objects themselves, like a webpage, seemingly can wander throughout the internet disassociated from reality. In such an environment, does anything actually exist?
For a much deeper discussion of existence see the "Existence" page at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.