Single Idea 9501

[catalogued under 7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 6. Criterion for Existence]

Full Idea

If one says that 'everything that exists is causally active', that rules out abstracta (notably sets and numbers), and it rules out objects that are causally isolated.

Gist of Idea

If all existents are causally active, that excludes abstracta and causally isolated objects

Source

Alexander Bird (Nature's Metaphysics [2007], 5.5)

Book Reference

Bird,Alexander: 'Nature's Metaphysics' [OUP 2007], p.114


A Reaction

I like the principle. I take abstracta to be brain events, so they are causally active, within highly refined and focused brains, and if your physics is built on the notion of fields then I would think a 'causally isolated' object incoherent.