Abdurrahman Ali Mihirig, M.A.

PhD project

My doctoral dissertation is an investigation into the problem of nonexistence in Islamic philosophy. Briefly, it is a study on how it is possible for human beings to think about, to know, and discuss nonexistent objects and states of affairs. The three basic views are: (i) there are no nonexistent objects; (ii) there are non-existent objects; (iii) there are no nonexistent objects, but every known object exists in the mind. The dissertation tracks these three distinct approaches to the problem, with a focus on the theory of mental existence, given its prominence in the post-classical Islamic tradition, for better or worse.