Being

Being (Einai / Esse / Sein) — The most fundamental question of metaphysics: “Why is there something rather than nothing?” (Leibniz). Parmenides: “Being is; non-being is not” — being is one, eternal, immobile. Aristotle: being is said in many ways (pollakhôs legetai) — categories articulate the modes of being. Thomas Aquinas: in God, essence and existence are identical; in creatures, they are distinct. Heidegger: philosophy has forgotten the question of being (Seinsfrage) by privileging beings (what exists) over being (the fact of existing).

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