What things exist? (Venue A: Caffè Nero)

THE VENUE: Caffè Nero, Fitzroy St

The weather forecast for Sunday looks promising so we may be able to meet outside by the river. But things may change. So, the default is to meet indoors but please look out for updates before you leave home.

We run the same event in two locations: Caffè Nero and Starbucks, so as to provide capacity for as many people who would like to attend. Thus, there will be two events published, and you can choose which one to attend. Please don't sign up for both. This event is for the Nero location.

We meet upstairs at Caffè Nero. An organiser will be present from 10.45. We are not charged for use of the space so it would be good if everyone bought at least one drink.

An attendee limit has been set so as not to overwhelm the venue.

Etiquette
Our discussions are friendly and open. We are a discussion group, not a for-and-against debating society. But it helps if we try to stay on topic. And we should not talk over others, interrupt them, or try to dominate the conversation.

There is often a waiting list for places, so please cancel your attendance as soon as possible if you subsequently find you can't come.

WhatsApp groups
We have two WhatsApp groups. One is to notify events, including extra events such as meeting for a meal or a drink during the week which we don't normally put on the Meetup site. The other is for open discussion of whatever topics occur to people. If you would like to join either or both groups, please send a note of the phone number you would like to use to Richard Baron on: website.audible238@passmail.net. (This is an alias that can be discarded if it attracts spam, hence the odd words.)

THE TOPIC: What things exist?

We seem happy to say that certain things exist: tables and chairs, for examples, are tangible things that exist in space and and time. We also recognise 'universals', which are the more general idea of things. We can think about tables without needing to bring to mind a specific table we have recently encountered. This also helps us to identify and distinguish between items of furniture, and ensure that we place objects on one but sit on the other. But what distinguishes a chair from a table, and how do we manage to get it mostly right?

We also have the ability to think about entities that are not tangible but yet still exist, such as emotions and ideas. Philosophy wouldn't amount to much if we couldn't !! Some entities could exist but don't yet, and some could never exist within our current understanding of the laws of physics. Some things from fiction and fantasy don't exist but conceivably could, such as the character Sherlock Holmes, whereas dragons, flying carpets and time travel almost certainly couldn't. But we can still talk about them and the conversations make sense to us. We don't currently think that faster-than-light travel is possible but it might be at some point in the future, and we can imagine its possibility in a coherent fashion.

Some things only exist because we say they do. We invented money as a useful tool for representing value and to make trade easier, but you can't go out into the world and find it. You may discover notes and coins, or an IOU from a friend, but these aren't money. In fact, they look more like promises.

There are other human-created things that are arguably less valuable, such as race, gender, disability, and nation states. These may have seemed useful at some point in history but come with their own set of problems.

Mathematical entities look similar. The number seven exists conceptually and whilst you can write a representative symbol on a piece of paper, that isn't the number seven. Did we discover mathematics (because it already existed) or did we create it?

We also also distinguish between things that are 'necessary' (they must exist) and those that are 'contingent' (the could exist but don't have to). Numbers may fall into the first category, as may causes - the reason that something else exists. God may be an example of a necessary - and first - cause.

And what of non-existence? We say that people who have died no longer exist, yet we can still think and talk about them. Is it even possible to conceive of non-existence? We have talked before about why anything exists, why there is something rather than nothing. What would 'nothing' be? Could it even 'be' at all?

I predict that Sunday's meeting will almost certainly come into existence, and hopefully by the river in the sunshine.