Literary notes about Existent (AI summary)
The term "existent" is employed in literature with remarkable versatility, spanning from discussions of cosmic substance and the divine to reflections on everyday perception. Some authors use it to articulate abstract metaphysical concepts, questioning whether the universe or a deity is self-sufficient and therefore truly existent in itself ([1], [2], [3]). Philosophers like Hume and Russell probe the nature of ideas and matter by designating them as existent, thereby linking existence with thought and perception ([4], [5], [6]). In contrast, within narrative works the term often conveys a palpable sense of presence—or its absence—as when an emotion or a digital address is rendered non-existent, subtly shifting the reader’s experience of reality ([7], [8], [9]). This multifaceted use shows how "existent" bridges profound metaphysical debate with the immediacy of lived experience.
- Either a part of the Universe is cause for the existence of the whole of the Universe; or the Universe is self-existent.
— from Know the Truth: A Critique on the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation by Jesse Henry Jones - And what analogy is there in the resurrection of the dead body of a perfect and self-existent God and that of vile man? 23.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves - [Pg 344] If we ask what a Substance is, the only answer is that it is a self-existent being, or one which needs no other subject in which to inhere.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James - And thus, though every impression and idea we remember be considered as existent, the idea of existence is not derived from any particular impression.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume - The answer is simple: Just as they would be if there were such a single existent.
— from The Analysis of Mind by Bertrand Russell - When I think of God, when I think of him as existent, and when I believe him to be existent, my idea of him neither encreases nor diminishes.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume - She ran indoors, a chill, non-existent thing, wanting to get away.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence - When trying to send mail to this address, the Mailer-Daemon complains: "This is a non-existent address.
— from The Online World by Odd De Presno - There was perhaps something fortunate in the fact that the immediate reason of his marriage had proved to be non-existent.
— from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
