On "Being" and "Existence"

Abstract

In Chinese,"being" has quite a few definitions,including the definition of "existence".However,its basic usage is a link verb.In Western philosophy,"being" and "existence" are two completely different concepts because "existence" cannot reveal the implications of "being" or vice versa."Being" as a core concept reflects Western philosophy as a disciplinary category in terms of epistemology and mirrors the basic way of understanding the world and mankind himself.In this case,"being" should be understood as "to be" rather than "existence" and its understanding should be related to "truth" and the examples in Western philosophy and "ways of being" all the time.Thus,a correct understanding of "being" should rely on an understanding of its historical development in Western philosophy rather than the surface meaning of the Chinese translation.