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Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown (Religion in North America)

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Reinhardt Grossmann wrote, 'If existence did not exist, then nothing would exist.' While this may sound like common sense, in the world of ontology and metaphysics, it is not as simple as one might think. This logical proposition, according to Grossmann, works whether one sees existence as a property or attribute, or as the 'ultimate substratum' (this phrase always reminded me of Tillich's 'ground of being' idea). This idea of Grossmann's comes at the end of the book, in the final section 'About the Nature of Existence'.

Grossmann was my first metaphysics professor, and I had a course with him the year he was putting the finishing touches on this book with the publisher. The course followed the book fairly closely, so I had the benefit both of reading the text as well as hearing Grossmann's lectures on the subject.

The first part of the book is introductory, setting the stage by exploring the nature of ontology and being, the debates between realism vs. idealism (in favour of realism), and a defense of empiricism. While Platonism serves as the root of rationalism, Grossmann's empiricism doesn't allow for universals that are unexemplified -- while he admits that he cannot prove that there are no unexemplified universals, he also states that the case in favour of such is unconvincing.

The heart of the book is the section section, on Categories. (This section is 340 of the book's 420 pages.) This Grossmann sees as a contemporary update and continuation of Aristotelian categories. Individuals as entities, properties and their natures, relations, classes, wholes, numbers, and facts are the primary divisions here. Not only does Grossmann explain the metaphysical use of such terms and topics, but also he surveys the field of ontology over the past few generations. Bradley, Russell, Frege, Brentano, Cantor, Husserl and Wittgenstein are just a few of the names drawn into the study.

The final section argues strongly about the nature of existence, that it is not just an 'empty sound' applied, but that existence is not merely a property or attribute, either. Even so, 'existence' has an undefinable side; also, there are objects of thought that do not exist, and fictional characters do not exist, according to Grossmann's structure.

This is an interesting path through metaphysics and ontology, a subject that once held centre-stage in philosophy, but is now a little off the stage in favour of other topics. Metaphysics remains a valuable study, and Grossmann's work is a good survey.