  To begin with, Sylvan tried to move the focus of his attention from the existence (or non-existence) of items to their being items. Using Sylvan’s words, sistology is concerned with “all items as having standing” (1991, 838). Thus, sistology aims at casting a new light on what it means to be an item instead of showing that it is possible to have non-existent items. The latter project was the unique task of noneism.