Hi David --
[Ham, to Ron]:
Once you are able to answer that, Heidegger's question "Why is there
something rather than nothing?" should be
child's play.
David --
By the way Leibniz first asked this I believe, certainly before Heidegger.
I'm not surprised, as it is certainly central to philosophical thought. I
associate this question with Heidegger because it made a profound impression
on me when I first started reading philosophy and picked up his
"Introduction to Metaphysics (1959). I particularly liked the simplicity of
his phrasing (although his elaboration is far from simple).
I thought it might be of interest to quote the Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy on this question:
"Since metaphysics is the study of what exists, one might expect
metaphysicians to have little to say about the limit case in which nothing
exists. But ever since Parmenides in the fifth century B.C., there has been
rich commentary on whether an empty world is possible, whether there are
vacuums, and about the nature of privations and negation.
"This survey starts with nothingness at a global scale and then explores
local pockets of nothingness. Let's begin with a question that Martin
Heidegger famously characterized as the most fundamental issue of
philosophy.
"In Les Misérables, Victor Hugo contrasts universal negation with universal
affirmation:
"'All roads are blocked to a philosophy which reduces everything to the word
'no.' To 'no' there is only one answer and that is 'yes.' Nihilism has no
substance. There is no such thing as nothingness, and zero does not exist.
Everything is something. Nothing is nothing. Man lives more by affirmation
than by bread. (1862, pt. 2, bk. 7, ch. 6).
"As far as simplicity, there is a tie between the nihilistic rule 'Always
answer no!' and the inflationary rule 'Always answer yes!'. Neither rule
makes for serious metaphysics."
Thanks and regards,
Ham
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