Volume 9, 1979
Nicholas Griffin
Pages 23-34
The Independence of Sosein from Sein
The paper defends Meinong's theory of objects against criticism by Reinhardt Grossmann. In particular, it is argued that Grossmann fails to show that non-existent objects may not be constituents of states of affairs and fails to provide an adequate alternative analysis of states of affairs which putatively contain nonexistent items. Grossmann, in fact, is guilty of a pervasive psychologistic misinterpretation of Meinong according to which Meinong believed that objects have all the properties with which they appear before the mind. Once this error is avoided, Meinong's theory not only escapes Grossmann's criticisms but has a high
degree of plausibility.