Q&A: Ideas as Entities
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Ideas as Entities
Question
With God's help,
Hello to the local rabbinic authority,
I wanted to ask: many times you repeat that the ideas that describe concepts exist. Are they entities, or concepts that God implanted in us?
If they are entities, were they created? Or are they a necessity of reality, like logic?
Answer
I do not see these entities as necessary, and certainly not as a logical necessity. I also do not see a significant difference between saying that God implanted them in us and claiming that they exist. Either way, they do not occupy space. The claim is that these are not arbitrary conventions. That holds true under both definitions.
Maybe it is also worth asking what exactly is meant by the term "idea." If we are talking about the form of our reason—that is, the basic forms through which we encounter the external world (really, we see the ideas and not the external world, which only stimulates them)—then apparently one can call them "entities," just as one can call a horse an "entity."