Conatus: REVISED EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

4. A Universe from Nothing?

‘Ex nihilo, nihil fit’ (Out of nothing, nothing comes.)

Parmenides

‘He who has not, as it were, looked into the abyss of the absolute Nothing will completely overlook the eminently positive content of the realisation that there is something rather than nothing.’

Max Scheler

Questions like why is there something rather than nothing seem like another foundational necessity in trying to get started in our understanding of what the world is about. Wittgenstein said: ‘Nothing will do as well as something about which nothing can be said.’ So, a cautionary note for the subject of this chapter! Somehow, this notion of nothingness is welcomed, provided it is not considered in too much depth! A start from nothing and an end in nothing fits well with our modern Western mindset. But even science is beginning to doubt that this is really possible. The Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle seems to suggest it is not an option. (See Quantum Theory Tugged And All Of Physics Unravelled New York Times 12th

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