Cyril asked:

How can we define the words 'existence' and 'reality'? And a second question: existence, isit reality?

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Existence (existentia) is a word traditionally used in distinction from essence (essentia). According to
its essence a thing is what it is. According to its existence a thing actually is, it is placed outside its
potential state in its causes. Reality (realis) refers to the extra-mental i.e. that which has a foundation
in fact, not just in mind. The real is not the same as the actual. The actual is the opposite of the
possible. The actual traditionally referred to the activity of something. The actual (actualis) also
means the active. In modern times these words have broken free from their moorings in the Latin
world and have been redefined differently in different philosophies. Therefore, you need to note their
meaning anew in each case.

Your second question, 'isexistence a reality?' asks after the esse— the being — of existence. I
would say, given the definitions just given, there is no reality without existence. But hat existenceis,
raises the further question, what is man? Or, what am I? What beingis, raises other questions not
unrelated to the former.

Matthew Del Nevo

www.sicetnon.com