Conatus: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

Wittgenstein said: ‘Nothing will do as well as something about which nothing can be said.’ So, a cautionary note for some of the subject-matter 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.

Perhaps ‘nothing’ initially just meant empty space and only later became the absence of space itself. It may be that there were not even any pre-existing laws that allowed for the appearance of physical space and matter. The emergence of a universe from nothing — or its emergence from an earlier form — takes us to the edge of physics. Science would rather have a ‘nothing’ (at the start of the universe) rather than a ‘something’ — especially an unknown something! In fact, science would rather have just things rather than particular ’somethings’. And science would rather have particles appearing and disappearing into nothing if it could — either it exists or it doesn’t — sorted!

It’s worth taking note that the meaning of the word ‘cosmos’ is ‘adornment’. This thought invites us to be grateful that there really is something rather than nothing. A universe from nothing makes no sense. But a universe that is emergent, transforming and developing — perhaps from formlessness rather than nothing — well, that has a better prospect of making sense to us — better traction as a story. This is Conatus — what this whole book is about! Cosmos as adornment also invites us to believe that the primary meaning of the universe is an

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