What does "something" denote or indicate? — Corvus
think my argument can be simplified to this:
Absolute nothingness is impossible, but it would not be impossible if it were not for the existence of something. — Ø implies everything
Anything that is not nothing. — Ø implies everything
Thus, we are left without an answer to why there is something rather than nothing. Yet, I do not think this entails any paradoxes, nor does it allow for skepticism about whether something exists or not. All that is threatened is that there may be no ultimate reason for existence; it may be that reality is a brute fact. — Ø implies everything
In answering this question, one must contemplate absolute nothingness, that is, the non-existence of everything. This "concept" is often deemed oxymoronic. For something to exist/be true, it must be
a thing. If absolute nothingness is a thing, it would entail its own non-existence, which would mean absolute nothingness would be true and untrue at the same time: a contradiction. If absolute nothingness is not a thing, then it cannot exist/be true. — Ø implies everything
Something is going on here, to do with nothingness. The folk posting here have something in mind, when they talk about nothingness. — Banno
I tried to analyse the statement further with logical reasoning, and the conclusion I got is, it is neither true nor false. Therefore it is not a valid proposition. — Corvus
The real question is if it is possible to super-size your nothing burger. — GRWelsh
By thing, I mean anything that could exist, be it a process or a concept or whatever. So, if absolute nothingness is a thing, then it would mean it could exist, which would make it self-contradictory. It cannot exist, because its existence would imply its non-existence. Thus, absolute nothingness is impossible. — Ø implies everything
Could you elaborate with a formal proof? If you want, I can try to formalize my proof as well. — Ø implies everything
I was not explaining why anyone was wrong. — Ø implies everything
:up:Writing "absolute" in front of "nothing" only serves to obfuscate. — Banno
It is both surprising and very disappointing to me to see how people, esp. in a place like this, can pass by these things without noticing them or commenting on them ... — Alkis Piskas
Austin, especially in Other Minds, addresses "real".
But is it a real one? When you ask if it is real, what are you sugesting? No, it's a fake; it's an illusion; it's a forgery; it's a phoney, a counterfeit, a mirage... What is real and what isn't is decided in each case by contrast; there is no single criteria. — Banno
Perhaps we can deal with "nothign" in a similar way, by asking what it is that there is nothing of...
He has nothing in the bank; I've nothing in my pocket; there is nothing in a vacuum.
What there is nothing of is decided by what is absent.
Absolute nothing is a non-starter. — Banno
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