ABSTRACT
A substance is a basic being, something at reality’s foundation. What exactly this means is a matter of some controversy, one of several challenges the concept of substance presents. Any attempt to discern the fundamental categories of being, a task of ontology – must inquire into the existence and nature of the most basic beings. And if there are substances, they will play an important explanatory role, for the most general structure and character of the world will rest on the nature of its foundation. Substance-denial can take a number of forms. The most extreme refuses to countenance the existence of anything at all; a fortiori, there are no substances. A substance-denier, then, may grant that something exists, but deny that there are any basic beings. Reality on this view has no bedrock; nothing exists in its own right. The world is instead a network of beings, each parasitic on other elements of the network.
