The nature of Meinong's objects

existent and nonexistent

pp. 92-150

in: Kenneth Perszyk, Nonexistent objects, Berlin, Springer, 1993

Abstract

Meinong"s principles of independence and indifference purport to tell us that objects have properties or natures independently of their being and that being is not a part of the nature of any object. But these principles by themselves do not tell us a great deal about how he understood the nature of objects, existent or nonexistent. The terminology used by Meinong to explicate these principles, which up to this point I have adopted uncritically, suggests that existent and nonexistent (i.e. beingless) objects have or exemplify properties. But one might wonder whether this talk is a bit loose, and whether Meinong really meant that objects, i.e. at least nonexistent ones, are properties or combinations of properties, instead of things which have or exemplify properties.