dexistence

Dexistence is a term used in philosophy and logic to denote the state or property of not existing. The word is not widely standardized and appears mainly in discussions of ontology, metaphysics, and semantics where scholars distinguish between existence and nonexistence in formal or linguistic contexts. Because it is uncommon, its exact scope varies by author; many writers would instead use nonexistence, inexistence, or negation of existence.

Etymology and usage: The term combines the prefix de- with existence, following a pattern seen in other coinages that treat negation as a distinct attribute. In practice, deexistence is typically discussed as a way to model or analyze claims about what does not obtain in a given domain, or as a device in debates about fictional or hypothetical entities.

Philosophical applications: In ontology, deexistence is considered when analyzing negative existents or the status of nonexistent objects in language and theory. In philosophy of language and fiction, it helps distinguish sentences such as “unicorns exist” and “unicorns do not exist” and how truth-values are assigned to statements about nonactual entities. Some philosophers argue that existence is not a property but a quantifier, so invoking a separate deexistence predicate can be misleading; others use the concept to formalize negative existential claims within particular logical frameworks.

See also: existence; nonexistence; inexistence; existential quantification; fictionalism; ontology.