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    Negative truths (e.g., 'there are no unicorns') have no p... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→There must be a thing (a truthmaker) that makes each truth true.

    Negative truths (e.g., 'there are no unicorns') have no plausible candidate entity to serve as their truthmaker.

    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Truthmakers must be concrete entities that positively exist; absences and lacks are not concrete entities.
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    • 2.If negative truths had truthmakers, we'd need infinite entities to make all true negations—an implausible ontology.
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    • 3.Positive facts about what exists can explain negative truths without requiring negative truthmakers as primitives.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.The absence of unicorns from our world is a genuine feature of reality that explains why 'no unicorns exist' is true.
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    • 2.Rejecting truthmakers for negatives makes truth a non-relational property, severing the intuitive connection between truth and reality.
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    • 3.Facts about fundamental physical laws and initial conditions constitute truthmakers for negative claims without requiring infinite entities.
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    Related

    Facts about fundamental physical laws and initial conditions constitute truthmak...If negative truths had truthmakers, we'd need infinite entities to make all true...Positive facts about what exists can explain negative truths without requiring n...Rejecting truthmakers for negatives makes truth a non-relational property, sever...
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    The absence of unicorns from our world is a genuine feature of reality that expl...There must be a thing (a truthmaker) that makes each truth true.Truthmakers must be concrete entities that positively exist; absences and lacks ...

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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