A Priori Argument for Ontological Lack

Authors

  • Leonardas Marcinkevičius Kaunas University of Technology; Lithuanian Free Market Institute

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55614/27093824.v8i1.229

Keywords:

ontological lack, a priori reasoning, ontology, principle of sufficient reason, principle non-contradiction

Abstract

The concept of lack appears across philosophy and economics as privation, scarcity, uneasiness, or phenomenological absence, yet it is typically treated as derivative of human experience or action rather than as a feature of being itself. This paper challenges that assumption. It advances the thesis that ontological lack is a necessary predicate of all finite beings and cannot be reduced to psychological, cultural, or experiential factors.
The argument proceeds in three steps. First, it establishes that only a priori reasoning can justify universal and necessary ontological claims. Second, it clarifies ontology as the science of being qua being, governed by the principles of sufficient reason and non-contradiction. Third, it demonstrates that intelligible being must be determinate, that determination necessarily entails exclusion, and that this exclusion constitutes modal absence, defined as ontological lack.
Ontological lack is thus shown to apply universally to all finite beings in every logically possible world.

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Author Biography

  • Leonardas Marcinkevičius, Kaunas University of Technology; Lithuanian Free Market Institute

    Analista senior en el Lithuanian Free Market Institute y candidato doctoral de Ciencias Políticas en la Kaunas University of Technology. Su obra académica se enfoca en filosofía política, los fundamentos morales para la distribución de recursos, los derechos de propiedad y el estatus epistemológico del razonamiento a priori en las ciencias sociales. Profesionalmente, trabaja en políticas monetarias, banca central, mercados laborales y la intersección de la economía con la filosofía. Ha presentado su investigación en conferencias internacionales y seminarios en Europa, Estados Unidos y América Latina.

References

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Published

2026-06-01

How to Cite

A Priori Argument for Ontological Lack. (2026). Revista Fe Y Libertad, 8(1), 17-39. https://doi.org/10.55614/27093824.v8i1.229

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