Existence statement

An existence statement is a statement or assertion of the content that at least one object (element, individual, event) of a certain subject area has a certain property , i.e. This means that the property concerned applies to at least one object.

An example of an existence statement is the sentence "In Berlin there is at least one person suffering from tuberculosis."

Modern existence statements are also called existence statements , existential statements or existential / existential quantified statements . In traditional logic, statements about existence are called particular judgments - see categorical judgment .

The logical properties of the existence statements become modern in predicate logic and were traditionally treated as particular affirmative and negative judgments in syllogistics .

In the formal language of predicate logic existential statements are formed by using the existence quantifier over predicates or forms of expression is quantified. The existential quantifier is usually symbolized by one of the signs or . ${\displaystyle \exists }$ ${\displaystyle \bigvee }$

Example of a quantification :

1. x is a Berliner [and] x is sick with tuberculosis
2. ( ) (x is a Berliner [and] x is sick with tuberculosis) (= "existential quantification" from sentence 1) ${\displaystyle \exists x}$
3. There is something that is a Berliner who is sick with tuberculosis.
4. Something is a Berliner and has tuberculosis.
5. Some Berliners are sick with tuberculosis.
6. Someone in / from Berlin is sick with tuberculosis.
7. A Berliner is sick with tuberculosis.

The verification of an existence statement is done by proving that there is actually an object with the claimed property in the object area. The falsification of an existence statement presupposes that all objects of the reference area can be assessed. If this is not possible, an existence statement can only be refuted more or less well. In empirical sciences, this leads to the assumption that statements about existence are statements that “can be empirically verified, but not empirically falsified”.

See also

• General statement
• logic

Web links

Wiktionary: Existence statement  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

swell

1. ↑ (1) - (5) based on Quine, Grundzüge, 8th edition (1993), p. 121
2. ↑ “Some” is to be read in the sense of “at least one”; H. actually misleading, cf. Brandt / Dietrich / Schön, Linguistics, 2nd edition (2006), p. 276
3. ↑ Cf. on this paragraph so far Regenbogen / Meyer, Dictionary of Philosophical Terms (2005), Existence Statement
4. ↑ So Schülerduden, Philosophy (2002), Existential Statement