UDC: 11
https://doi.org/10.25198/2077-7175-2025-2-88


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ABOUT BEING

S. D. Lobanov
Perm State Institute of Culture; Perm Federal Research Center Ural Branch Russian Academy of Sciences; Perm State Pharmateutical Academy, Perm, Russia
e-mail: sdl-grey54@yandex.ru

Abstract. According to S. L. Frank, the question of being has a puzzling character. This assessment is valid not only for the time of S. L. Frank, but also for ancient and modern philosophy. The fact is that the question of being refers, on the one hand, to the great European myths, on the other – to the main question of philosophy. The article proposes to consider being from three points of view: 1) the lemmas of being, i.e. its objectivity, determined through the relation of being to its substrate (subject), as well as the properties of the individuality of being (inseparability from things); 2) the dilemmas of being, i.e. its non-objectivity, related to the question of whether being is a necessary or accidental property of things, as well as its relation to negation; 3) the unity of objectivity and non-objectivity of being, the place (chorus) of being. To solve the question of being, the distinction introduced by G. Frege is accepted: the concept (meaning, predicate, co-meaning) and the object (meaning, denotation, truth/ lie). The question is posed: is being a concept (predicate) and an object? The answer to this question is offered in terms of ontological obligations, including the modalities of physical and moral capabilities, as well as a contract, or some norm. The definition of being through the relation to nothing can be considered a source of the emptiness of being, on the one hand, and on the other – a source of creativity, the ability of the language of philosophy to create meaningful descriptions of reality. As an example of a sample of poesophilosophy, the article uses the scheme of the study of being: being is being is being. The question of being is directly related to the history of metaphysics, the subject of which is being and other higher concepts (Good, Unity, Truth, etc.). The denial of metaphysics and, consequently, the concept of being, according to Nietzsche, became the source of European nihilism. Attention is drawn to Wittgenstein’s question from his work «On reliability», namely: «What can I rely on?». This is a very succinct question, similar to Kant’s «What can I do? What dare I do?» etc. The article concludes that being is a source of beliefs, trust, reliability and confidence of a person. In other words, being is that without which everything (the rest) is nothing.

Key words: objectivity of being, non-objectivity of being, lemma of being, dilemma of being, trilemma of being, ontological obligations, neutral ontology, being is being is being.

Cite as: Lobanov, S. D. (2025) [About Being]. Intellekt. Innovacii. Investicii [Intellect. Innovations. Investments]. Vol. 2, pp. 88–99. – https://doi.org/10.25198/2077-7175-2025-2-88.


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