In the early 1970s, when I was an undergraduate philosophy student, I was introduced to the writing of German philosopher Martin Heidegger. This is a dangerous question. For instance, in his essay on Aquinas, Wippel concedes that he has "not found Aquinas raising this [ultimate why] question [why there is anything at all rather than nothing whatsoever] in these exact words" (p. 84). Ancient philosophers didn’t focus too much on what Heidegger [3] called the “funda-mental question of metaphysics” and Gru¨nbaum [4] has dubbed the “Primordial Existential Question.” How is there something rather than nothing? ), Meister Eckhart, Nicolas of Cusa, Hobbes (! something has an infinite regress of causation or. Why are there essents rather than nothing? The Ground of Metaphysics Writing allegorically in “The Way Back into the Ground of Metaphysics,” Heidegger notes that although metaphysics is undeniably the root of all human knowledge, we may yet wonder from what soil it springs. But the reverse question, albeit 49 imitatively in bad faith, that I scandalously pose: ‘Why is there likely Nothing rather 50 than Something?’—echoing Heidegger’s finalé, ‘Why are there beings at all, why not 51 rather nothing?’ (Freiburg lecture, 1929) —like … That is the question, Heidegger asserts. Reflecting on the great issues that animate our lives -- good and evil, truth and beauty, faith and the soul, free will and consciousness -- Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? – why the universe exists, or why there is something rather than nothing [1, 2]. ), Jaspers and Plotinus. The translator blames this on the request of the American publisher (Basic Books), and it's baffling to me why 23 questions is preferable to an even 30. ), Heidegger (! By Heidegger scholar Michael Gelven . I am reminded of the Peano axioms for the construction of the natural numbers. Davidson 2005, Miller 2002). The question "Why is there anything at all? In the discussion that ensues Heidegger has taken the adage ‘ex nihilo nihil fit’ rather too literally and hence finds a certain ambiguity in it. ", or, "Why is there something rather than nothing?" But there are also important new accents which cast doubt on any self-same identity of the ultimate why question. The only genuine philosophical question is why there is something rather than nothing. Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? something exists without a cause either 2 or 3 has to be true and they're both equally crazy On this assumption there is no mystery and the reason why there is something rather than nothing is because there is a God who created it all. something exists. offers a guided tour of Western philosophy by one of the world's greatest living experts. It leaves out chapters on Aristotle (! has been raised or commented on by philosophers including Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Martin Heidegger – who called it the fundamental question of metaphysics. Well if one actually thinks about nothing nothing makes a whole lot more sense than something. Those sceptical of theism share the assumption that the question is a) about ... the concept vulnerable to Heidegger’s critique of onto-theology (cf.

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