Skip to main content

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
Cancel
×
×
Home
  • Home
Article

WHY THERE IS SOMETHING RATHER THAN NOTHING

  • John Shand
Abstract

The answer to the question of why there is Something rather than Nothing is that there has to be Something and that Nothing is impossible. There cannot not be Something so there cannot be Nothing. The paper justifies this conclusion, while also explaining why we might believe there may be Nothing. In the course of this, the so-called subtraction-argument is shown to be inadequate and question-begging.

Copyright
COPYRIGHT: © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 2016 
References
Hide All
Baldwin, Thomas, ‘There might be nothing.’ Analysis (1996), 56 (4), 231–238.
Efird, David and Stoneham, Tom, ‘The Subtraction Argument for the Possibility of Free Mass.’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (2010) Volume 80, Issue 1, 50–57.
Hume, David, A Treatise of Human Nature (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888, second edition, ed Nidditch, P. H., 1978).
Van Inwagen, Peter, ‘Why is there anything at all?’ Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 70, 95–110.
Lowe, E. J., ‘Why is there anything at all?’ Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 70, 111–120.
Paseau, Alexander, ‘Why the substraction argument does not add up.’ Analysis (2002) 62 (1): 73–75.
Rodriguez-Pereyra, Gonzalo, ‘There might be nothing: the substraction argument improved.’ Analysis (1997) 57 (3), 159–166.
Rundle, Bede, Why there is Something rather than Nothing (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
Sorensen, Roy, ‘Nothingness’, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nothingness/
Recommend this journal

Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this journal to your organisation's collection.

Think
  • ISSN: 1477-1756
  • EISSN: 1755-1196
  • URL: /core/journals/think
Please enter your name
Please enter a valid email address
Who would you like to send this to? *

CAPTCHA *

Skip to the audio challenge
×

Metrics

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 9
Total number of PDF views: 124 *
Loading metrics...

Abstract views

Total abstract views: 421 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between September 2016 - 12th June 2018. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Cancel
Confirm
×