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    It is impossible that nothing exists. — Carmelics
    Home/Natural Theology
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    It is impossible that nothing exists.

    Natural Theology
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Suppose nothing exists. Then no actual states of affairs exist.
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    • 2.If no actual states of affairs exist, no merely possible states of affairs exist, since there is nothing to actualize them or bring them about.
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    • 3.Hence, if nothing exists, there are no possible states of affairs at all.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.The S5 axiom's accessibility relation between possible worlds is itself a metaphysical posit that requires existing modal structure to obtain.
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    • 2.If nothing exists, no modal framework exists to ground inter-world accessibility, so S5 cannot be invoked from within the null hypothesis.
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    • 3.The argument thus smuggles in an existing logical space as a background condition, begging the question against absolute nothingness.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.David Lewis's modal realism treats possible worlds as concrete existents, meaning 'possible states of affairs' already presupposes a populated ontology of worlds.
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    • 2.On deflationary modal views like Sider's or Rosen's, modal truths are primitive or grounded in actual-world structure, not free-floating necessities.
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    • 3.Therefore P5's claim that S is 'necessarily possible across all worlds' assumes a robust realist modal ontology that is itself contested and cannot be presupposed.
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    Topics

    Natural Theology

    Related

    But one can conceive of a possible world with at least one actual and hence poss...David Lewis's modal realism treats possible worlds as concrete existents, meanin...Hence, if nothing exists, there are no possible states of affairs at all.If no actual states of affairs exist, no merely possible states of affairs exist...
    +8 moreShow less
    If nothing exists, no modal framework exists to ground inter-world accessibility...On deflationary modal views like Sider's or Rosen's, modal truths are primitive ...On the S5 axiom system of modal logic, all possible worlds are connected, so if ...Suppose nothing exists. Then no actual states of affairs exist.The S5 axiom's accessibility relation between possible worlds is itself a metaph...The argument thus smuggles in an existing logical space as a background conditio...Therefore P5's claim that S is 'necessarily possible across all worlds' assumes ...This contradicts the supposition that there are no possible states of affairs.

    Similar

    If the nonexistence of everything is impossible, then necessarily some...93%Hence it is not possible that God exists.88%Hence, if nothing exists, there are no possible states of affairs at a...87%But it is absurd that nothing in Nature exists necessarily by its own ...87%

    Source

    AI-extracted2/3 agreementValid
    SEP: cosmological-argument
    Rutten (2012)
    View source passageHide passage
    In the first part of the 20th century, with the rise of Positivism, the argument was largely abandoned. C. ” But since existence claims cannot be logically necessary, the statement is absurd. However, he notes, within us lies a deep-seated question: why should anything exist at all? Smart does not know what sort of question this is for it fails to fit his conception of propositions as either necessary truths or empirical claims. However, he continues, this awe-inspiring theological question appeals to those with a religious attitude. In this, the cosmological argument is reduced to a mystical ...
    Extraction notes

    Validity: The extracted argument accurately reconstructs Rutten's reductio ad absurdum argument as presented in the source passage, and the premises logically support the conclusion that it is impossible for nothing to exist by deriving a contradiction from the supposition that nothing exists.

    Confidence: A clearly laid out reductio argument attributed to Rutten.

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit