Why
is there Something instead of Nothing?
Metaphysics
is defined as the study of everything that can be said to exist. Given that something does indeed exist, imagining the
absence of everything that exists, leads to the conceptual idea of nothingness.
Does “nothing” exist? Ever since philosophers and theologians have cogitated about
the nature of reality, there have been endless debates over whether an empty universe
is possible, whether an absolute vacuum can exist, and about the origin of the
universe itself: Did “something”, -in fact, all
the things we experience, - emerge from nothing?
At least one philosopher, Martin Heidegger, believed the
question of why there is something rather than nothing to be the most
fundamental issue of philosophy. 1;2 The polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz,
in his “Principle of Sufficient Reason,” 3
posited that there is an explanation for every fact, an answer for every
question. “This principle having been stated,” Leibniz wrote, “the first
question which we have a right to ask will be: ‘Why is there something rather
than nothing?’”
Imagine my excitement, when I discovered that the
application of my Calculus of Distinctions 4 and Dimensional
Extrapolation 5 to the description of the formation of the Hydrogen
atom, tritium and all the elements of the Periodic Table 6, answered
this question! It turns out that the question ‘Why is there something rather
than nothing?’ arises from a misunderstanding, or, more accurately, an almost
complete lack of understanding of the
relationship between Space, Time and Consciousness, the triadic domain that
contains all mass, energy and thought.
The
idea that there can be ‘something’ called ‘nothing’ is soundly refuted by
application of the Calculus of Distinctions to Quantum Mechanics. In other
words, in our universe, a universe known to be built of quanta (subatomic units
of specific, limited size), there is no
such thing as nothing!
Understanding
the nature of Time as a three-dimensional domain within which the
three-dimensional domain of Space is contained, leads to the logical conclusion
(spelled out by the Calculus of Distinctions) that there are no absolute beginnings or ends: only
change. The erroneous idea that the universe could have had an absolute
beginning, and thus might have an absolute end, comes from our limited
perception of reality obtained through the physical senses: We see things come
and go, people being born, living for a while and dying. But if we look a bit
more closely at what really happens, we see that nothing is actually destroyed.
Application of the Calculus of Distinctions reveals that the universal Law of the
Conservation of mass and energy, long validated by experiment, and long accepted
in the physical sciences, extends to all things, including Space, Time and
Consciousness. In other words, Reality, including the universe and all that is
contained within it, has always existed in some form.
If you
want to know more about this, check out the references below. A good place to
start is with “Transcendental Physics” 7 a book written for the
general informed public, with most of the mathematics in appendices. If that
whets your desire to understand the nature of reality, you may want to move on
to “Reality Begins with Consciousness” 5 and “Space, Time and
Consciousness” 6 by Dr. Vernon Neppe and myself. “Transcendental
Physics” is available on Amazon and iuniverse, and books and articles by Dr.
Neppe and this author are available at www.BrainVoyage.com.
1. Heidegger,
Martin, “Sein und Zeit”,
Gesamtausgabe* Volume 2, "Being and Time" trans. by John
Macquarrie and Edward Robinson (London: SCM Press,
1962); re-translated by Joan Stambaugh (Albany: State University of New York
Press, 1996)
2.
Heidegger, Martin, "Identität und Differenz", Gesamtausgabe Volume 11, "Identity and
Difference",
trans. by Joan Stambaugh (New York: Harper & Row, 1969)
* Heidegger's collected works are published
by Vittorio
Klostermann. The Gesamtausgabe (Compiled Works) of Martin Heidegger’s
writings was initiated Heidegger's lifetime . He decided on the sequence of
publication of the volumes and demanded that the principle of editing should be "ways not
works."
3. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Sämtliche
Schriften und Briefe. Ed. Preussischen (later: Deutsche) Akademie der
Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Darmstadt/Leipzig/Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1923
4. Close, Edward R., “Transcendental Physics”, Appendix D, pp. 316
– 327, Gutenberg-Richter Press, 1997, iuniverse, 2000
5. Neppe, V.M. and Close, E.R.,
“Reality Begins with Consciousness”, e-book, www.BrainVoyage.com, Seattle, 2013
6. Close, Edward
R., and Neppe, Vernon M., “Space, Time and Consciousness” (in press) www.BrainVoyage.com,
Seattle, 2013
7. Close, Edward R., “Transcendental Physics”, Gutenberg-Richter Press, 1997, iuniverse, 2000
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