Much Ado About Nothing

BY DONALD DEMARCO

“Why is there something rather than nothing?”

This question, as formulated by Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716), the “last universal genius,” is a great starting point for philosophical inquiry.

It has not only metaphysical but psychological significance. There is no need to account for nothing. There is nothing there to account for.

But if I have nothing in my pocket one moment and find, to my astonishment, $100 there the next moment, I know that there must be some reason or explanation for its sudden appearance.

Philosophy begins with astonishment when we know there must be some reason, but we do not know what that reason is. “Nothing is without reason” (Nihil est sine ratione) is one of the fundamental principles of philosophy. It is also the principle that energizes scientists.

For Leibniz, as well as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas before him, the ultimate reason for the existence of any of the things we find in our current universe is God, since only a divine being with infinite power can create something out of nothing.

No finite or contingent being can create itself.

Not so fast, says Lawrence Krauss, director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University.

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