♠ Seven of Spades
the cosmological family
The Argument from Existence Alone
Ibn Sina — Avicenna, The Chief Master
al-Ishārāt wa-l-tanbīhāt (Remarks and Admonitions)
DemonstrativeConcludes that something exists.
- Argument form
- Disjunctive syllogism (necessary or possible; the totality of possibles is not necessary; its cause is no member of it)
- Concludes to
- Necessary being (a being necessary in itself)
- Premise ground
- Metaphysical (the possible in itself is caused by another; a totality depends on its members)
- Modal strength
- Necessary
- What it licenses
- Period
- Medieval (c. 1030)
- Tradition
- Avicennian
Further reading
- Source text, public domain
al-Ishārāt wa-l-tanbīhātishart4.pdf - A scholarly account
Read an exposition of the argument - A principal objection
Read the objection in full
This formulation is ours, composed from the primary source and compressed to fit the card; the argument admits of other statements. Objections have been made to every argument in the deck; where one is linked above, it is chosen by us, not written by us.
ergocards.com/existence-alone
© 2026 Athens & Jerusalem. All rights reserved.