Meinong, Alexius

Alexius Meinong was an Austrian philosopher known for his work on the nature of objects and existence. He proposed that there are many kinds of objects, including some that do not exist in reality—like fictional characters or impossible things. According to Meinong, these nonexistent objects still have some sort of "being" or "subsistence," allowing us to think about them meaningfully. His ideas influenced debates in philosophy and logic about what exists, what it means to refer to something, and how our minds can entertain thoughts about things that are not real.