ABSTRACT
Existence gives rise to a host of distinctively philosophical issues that lie at the heart of metaphysics. If a sentence is true, it is natural to think that there is something that makes it true, something in the virtue of which it is true. This intuition holds for true existential sentences as much as for any other true sentence. But in order to be clear about the nature of the truthmaker for existential sentences, people need to be clear about the logical structure of existential sentences. In order to decide between these competing views, people should first consider the case of true negative existential sentences such as 'Santa Claus does not exist' and 'unicorns do not exist'. These sentences pose a familiar and ancient metaphysical puzzle. Colin McGinn is a modern defender of the view that there are non-existent objects.
