Defending the Univocality of Existence.docx

This article defends the univocality of existence by exploring its close connection to numerical predicates. The argument draws on Peter van Inwagen's inductive reasoning, emphasizing the factual equivalence between existence claims and numerical statements, such as "unicorns do not exist" and "the number of unicorns is zero." Counterarguments by philosophers like William Vallicella, Enrico Berti, and Chris Macdaniel are addressed systematically. Vallicella's critique of singular existence statements, Berti's concerns regarding uncountable entities, and McDaniel's distinction between semantic and metaphysical univocality are examined and countered. The article argues that the univocality of existence offers superior explanatory simplicity and coherence compared to its alternatives, contributing to the philosophical discourse on ontology.