Necessary Substance

A necessary substance is a substance that exists no matter what. A necessary substance is a substance that would exist no matter what possibly true propositions were true. Or to put it another way, a necessary substance is a substance whose existence is entailed by every proposition (considering that impossible propositions are ones that entail everything). A much neglected topic in metaphysics is an investigation into the existence and nature of necessary substances. One reason to be optimistic about the existence of necessary substances is that they would provide a natural explanation as to why there are any substances in the first place. For more subtle reasons to be optimistic, see Necessary Concreta.

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