Something from nothing

Something from Nothing argument is a philosophical argument that proves logically: The existence of any thing cannot have come from nothing or no thing nor could it have ever existed at all.

To partially grasp this understanding the philosopher must first realise that nothing or no thing equals the absence of any thing including the absence of absence itself (nothingness). One theory shows that the universe was created from the expansion of heat energy (Big Bang) but the Something from Nothing argument shows that the energy could not have ever existed at all nor could it have come into existence from nothing.

Plato and many other philosophers have often argued over and pondered on nothingness.

Additional Processes

Through the Something from Nothing argument one can become aware of many new axioms such as the questioning of all things known within the questioning mind. An example of this could be: Why are bubbles bubbles? or Why do objects have dimension? - Not their purpose of having dimension because that becomes known once analysing so, but their dimension at all, such as: I know why fingers have material shape and what purpose they assume: to manipulate and handle material objects. But a truer question is: Why do fingers have dimension? Not the material questioning, but the questioning of dimension itself and the questioning of all things, whether abstract or concrete, including the questioning of questioning.

Questioning Reality

Another question that may arise from understanding Something from Nothing is: how is reality itself possible? Many sources and theories attempt to explain the creation of reality and existence, but nearly all of them seem to provide puzzle pieces that do the exact opposite.

We may know that at the heart of all material things in reality lie atoms, but a good question could be: how can atoms exist? That question brings us further down the rabbit hole.

Understanding Something from Nothing may disprove many theories of the creation of the universe or multi-verse.

The logic or axioms behind this is:

If there is nothing or no thing -> Then -> No space can exist to contain energy or a void with space and no objects or a void with space and fluctuations which create objects; no energy or fluctuations can exist to create matter or reality.

Also realise that words are finite and that describing this understanding with words is finite.

Contradiction of cause and effect

The question of whether something can come from nothing has logical philosophical, physical and metaphysical aspects. It is often argued that it is obvious that something cannot come from nothing, because it contradicts common-sense and everyday experience, and the laws of conservation of mass and energy.

However, experiments in support of quantum theory have shown that particles are continually created and destroyed by "fluctuations in the void". The question is whether some form of physical "void" can be identified with the philosophical logical or metaphysical concept of "nothing" or "nothingness".

It is argued, for example by Victor J. Stenger, that the universe could have come from nothing. The positive energy bound up in matter being balanced by the negative energy of gravitation which is responsible for the expansion of the universe.

Logically it can be argued that if the universe, including space-time itself, as well as matter and energy, is "everything that exists" then there can be nothing (i.e. there cannot be anything) outside or before it.

So what does it mean to say that the universe has "come into existence" from nothing, if there was no time "before" it existed? Clearly these are not simple questions!

References

* http://books.google.com/books?id=rNpiqchNopwC&pg=PT181&lpg=PT181&dq=something+from+nothing+argument&source=web&ots=wNYPyb4APo&sig=K1qJrlYnXDetGl55iDPTEQJkWPc&hl=en
* http://richarddawkins.net/articleComments,1790,Arguments-From-Design-First-Cause-Something-Rather-Than-Nothing-Fundamental-Constants,RichardDawkinsnet,page2
* http://gl2logic.com/cerberus/cerberus.php?cpp=6

See also

* Big Bang Theory
* Cosmology
* Nothingness
* Rabbit Hole
* Omnipotence