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J. L. Shaw
ned in terms of identity. Since identity is a property, 'exists' which is defined in terms of 'identity' is a predicate. Since identity is a property of any object, 'exists' is a universal predicate.
3. It is said that if "alive', 'not escaped', 'not destroyed by fire', etc. can be treated as predicates, then certain uses of 'exists' should be treated as predicative. These uses may be called 'excluder uses' or predicative uses'. They rule out certain possibilities. What a particular predicative use of 'exists' rules out depends on the context. The predicative use of 'exists' is negative in character. Since both F and not-F are considered as properties, the predicative use resembles not-F. The propositions like all of them exist', 'some of them do not exist 'some of them do exist', 'none of them exist' are perfectly meaningful. According to this view the proposition "all tame tigers exist' is meaningful. when it is uttered in a particular context. If a zoological survey team is appointed to file a report on the tame tigers, then after a survey one may say 'all tame tigers exist. This use of “exist' signifies that the tame tigers did not die or escape.
4. Another argument may be construed in the following way? A universal is a property, and existence is a universal, therefore existence is a property and 'exists' is a predicate. A universal may be defined as something which is common to more than one object and which is related to those objects by a special relation, say, R,. The relation Ri which holds between a universal and its instences is different from the relation which holds between a particular quality, say a particular red, and the object which has that quality. The particular red has existenc: and the object which is red has that quality. The particular red has existance and the object which is red has existence. If a particular red is a quality of a table, then a universal is not a quality in the same sense. A predicate expression refers either to a quality or to a universal. Since existence is a universal 'exists' which refers to it is a predicate. If the question is whether existence is a quality like red or hard, the answer would be negative. If the question is whether 'exists' is a predicate, the answer would be positive.
5. It may be said that there are different senses of the term 'exists'. In some sense a particular object exists, and in some other sense it does not exist. An illusory object exists in some sense, but not in the sense in which the things in my room exist. Some of the senses of 'exists' may be given in the following way :
Df = undeniable
E
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