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Numerical Difference and Absolute Non-Existence
S7
our arguments may not be entirely fruitless. We have shown that the acceptance of the existence of a plurality of substances makes the acceptance of relations inevitable. We have also shown that the existence of quality and, by similar logic, the existence of states and modes also make the admission of relations unavoidable. The denial of relations would, on the contrary, reduce all things to nullity. The proposition "things cannot be real if relations are unreal" is not of course self-evident. But it follows from the consideration of the propositions which are ultimately certain. If there were no relation between a quality and a substance, or between a substance and its modes, the quality and the mode would be unreal, as they cannot exist independently of and apart from a substance to which they belong. A mode, which is not a mode of anything, and a quality, which is not a quality of anything, is neither a mode nor a quality. And a quality which is not a quality is nothing. The same is true of the mode. But if modes and qualities are unreal, substance too cannot be real. A substance without a quality and a mode is not a substance. And if a substance cannot be a substance, it will be nothing. The denial of relations between a substance and a quality thus makes both of them unreal fictions. The denial of the relation of coinherence in a substance between the several qualities would again make them cease to be qualities of the same substance. So much about the relation between a quality and a substance, which may be regarded as internal relation. With regard to external relations, too, their denial will be seen to lead to equally fatal consequences. No sense-perception would arise if there were no relation, however indirect, between the senses and the objects of perception. In the absence of sense-perception the existence of senses would also be robbed of all means of proof and similarly the existence of material objects, cannot be asserted. The existence of sense-organs is inferred from the very fact that sense-perception is not possible without an instrument. The existence of matter is asserted also on the evidence of senseperception, as it is believed to be directly perceived. But the denial of relation, direct or indirect, physical or quasi-physical, between an organ of sense and the sensed object makes senseperception impossible and the latter makes the denial of sense
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