Being

The relationship of being and existence is somewhat complex, but it can be better understood when being is contrasted with its paired concept, as in being and becoming, being and appearance or phenomena, being and essence, or being and thought. The meaning of being slightly differs according to its paired concept. The philosopher, implicitly or explicitly, holds a certain sense of being as primary, and his/her understanding of being constitutes the framework or background of his/her thought, although he/she does not necessarily discuss it thematically.

Multiple Senses of Being in a Paired Set of Concepts

Being is often paired with another concept and the sense of being differs according to what it is paired with. The pairs listed below are some of those often discussed in the history of philosophy. These pairs, however, often overlap and they are not mutually exclusive.

• Being and becoming

Being, when it is contrasted with becoming, means immutability, permanence, or constant. Parmenides considered being to be the first principle of reality, believing that only being is, and that non-being is not. Also, everything is one, and the one is being, which is continuous, all-inclusive, and eternal. For him, becoming is illusory and impossible. By contrast, Heraclitus regarded becoming as the first principle, maintaining that everything is in a state of flux. Plato is considered to have reconciled between being and becoming by integrating the immutable world of Ideas and the transitory world of material beings through the notion of participation.

• Being and phenomena

Being, when it is contrasted with phenomena, means true reality in contrast to mere appearances or what appears to sense perception. Plato, for example, inquired into the true reality of being in contrast to what appears to our five senses. For Plato, the true reality of being are permanent, immutable Ideas. Thing are beautiful, for example, by virtue of the Idea of beauty which is the true reality. What appears to our five senses is a less real, ephemeral appearance.

• Being and beings

Being, when it is contrasted with beings, means the fact of existence itself. Beings mean particular entities that exist. Heidegger, for example, stressed this distinction in order to highlight the concept of being or to-be as a dynamic activity.

• Being and existence

See above.

• Being and essence

Of course, being (ens or essens) and essence (essentia) are closely connected linguistically because in Latin the latter (essentia) is an abstract form of the former (essens), which is the present participle of the verb esse ("to be"). However, when being is contrasted with essence, it means an actual existence, whereas the essence of a being is that which makes what it is. So, the contrast of being and essence is that of existence and essence. This may be confusing a little because the aforementioned contrast of being and existence basically treats being as essence. In any case, Medieval philosophers such as St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas argued, perhaps following Persian philosopher Avicenna, that God is a unique being whose essence is its existence, while essence and existence are distinct for all beings other than God. The biblical concept of God as "I am who I am" (Exodus 3:14) expresses this identity of essence and existence in God.

• Being and thought

Being, when it is contrasted with thought, means the objective reality that is outside of the cognitive subject. Thought refers to ideas in the mind, and being to spatiotemporal, extra-mental existence. This contrast was used by modern philosophers who had an epistemological concern. The contrast of being and thought appeared within the question of how ideas or thoughts in the mind can be a real representation of the objective reality which exists outside of the mind.

• Is (being) and ought

Being or "is," when it is contrasted with ought, means factuality in contrast to normativeness. Kant, for example, distinguished prescriptive statements in morality, which use "ought" or "should," in contrast to natural, descriptive statements which describe what they factually are.