Inexistence

Inexistence is the state or condition of not existing; it refers to the absence of being or presence in the actual world. In English, inexistence is a less common form of nonexistence, and both terms express negation of existence, though nonexistence is more widely used in philosophical and analytical writing.

Etymology: Inexistence derives from the prefix in- plus existence, with roots in Latin existentia.

Philosophical use: The term describes things that are said not to have being, such as fictional entities or abstract objects that some theories deny as having concrete existence. In metaphysics, discussions distinguish between contingent existence (dependent on circumstances) and necessary existence (cannot be otherwise). Some philosophers argue that inexistence is not a distinct property a thing can possess; instead, it is the logical negation of existence for that thing. The question of whether nonexistent objects truly exist in any sense has implications for theories of language and ontology, including nominalism, realism about universals, and fictionalism.

Logic and language: In predicate logic, negation of existence is expressed as not exists x such that P(x), equivalent to for all x, not P(x). In natural language, phrases like "unicorns exist" or "unicorns do not exist" reveal how inexistence is treated in discourse; sometimes the sentence "There are no unicorns" is more natural than "Unicorns do not exist." Fictional characters illustrate that something can be said to exist semantically but not in reality.