Denying Existence: The Logic, Epistemology And Pragmatics Of Negative Existentials And Fictional Discourse

This book tries to explore, in language as non-technical as possible, the deepest philosophical problems regarding the logical status of empty (singular) terms such as Pegasus', Batman', The impossible staircase departs in Escher's painting Ascending-Descending'+ etc., and regarding sentences which deny the existence of singled-out fictional entities. It will be fascinating for literary theorists with a flair for logic, to students of metaphysics and philosophy of language, and for historians of philosophy interested in the fate of the Russell-Meinong debate. For teachers of these aspects of analytic philosophy this will provide a textbook which goes beyond the Western tradition (without plunging into any mystical Eastern Emptiness', which is what some previous comparative philosophers did ).