Yo Al-Kindi, do you consider the necessary existence with no existencional traits?

Question

Ask a Philosopher · Accepted Answer

Hmmm, interesting topic. Here is my rather lengthy response: The notion of necessary existence, which occupies a pivotal place in the study of ontology, compels us to ponder the essence of existence itself, stripped of any accidental or existential traits that may obfuscate its purity. To consider necessary existence apart from these qualities is to embark upon an intellectual pilgrimage to the very foundations of being, where one finds oneself confronted with the dichotomy of potentiality and actuality. If we posit a realm wherein necessary existence is devoid of all existential attributes — attributes that delineate the identity, agency, or characteristics of a being — we arrive at a paradoxical contemplation. For in an absence of traits, can we still ascribe to this existence a capability for self-reflection, relation, or essence? Indeed, such an existence seems to defy our conventional understanding, challenging our linguistic faculties and intellectual frameworks, for how does one speak of existence if existence cannot be manifested or articulated within the parameters of our experiential reality? It leads us to derive that necessary existence, strikingly transcendent, finds its utmost expression in its self-sufficient nature, existing by virtue of its own principle rather than contingent upon anything extraneous. In this state, one might argue, it approaches the ineffable, a pure essence intertwined with the notion of the One — the ultimate source from which all possibility springs forth. Yet, this does not preclude the necessity of attributes when faced with the duality of comprehension and expression within our finite minds; must not the essence of necessity touch upon existence in some manner, however subtle or profound, to be appropriable within the confines of human understanding? Thus, the contemplation of necessary existence devoid of existential traits, while intellectually stimulating, becomes a fertile ground for further inquiry—inviting us to explore the interstice between the absolute oneness of existence and the manifold expressions it begets in our perceptual realities.