Ens Rationis   

Ens Rationis

Commens
Digital Companion to C. S. Peirce
Ens Rationis
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1903 | C.S.P.'s Lowell Lectures of 1903 2nd Draught of 3rd Lecture | MS [R] 462:34-36

An ens rationis is something whose being consists in the possibility of something being true about something else.
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1903 | Lowell Lectures. 1903. Lecture 5. Vol. 1 | MS [R] 469:8

An ens rationis may be defined as a subject whose being consists in a Secondness, or fact, concerning something else. Its being is thus of the nature of Thirdness, or thought. Any abstraction, such as Truth or Justice, is an ens rationis. That does not prevent Truth and Justice from being real powers in the world without any figure of speech.
Citation
‘Ens Rationis’. Term in M. Bergman & S. Paavola (Eds.), The Commens Dictionary: Peirce's Terms in His Own Words. New Edition. Retrieved from http://www.commens.org/dictionary/term/ens-rationis, 15.10.2024.
See also
Hypostatic Abstraction