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What is something and what is nothing. They both need each other to exist. Why is there something but not nothing?

Kamran Noor
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  • "they both need each other" - quite the opposite, in fact: the two are mutually exclusive. "Nothing" means the lack of any "something". – NotThatGuy Oct 21 '23 at 08:17
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    Nothing came first, but as you say, something was missing. – Scott Rowe Oct 21 '23 at 12:48
  • The SEP article on Nothingness is great https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nothingness/ Also see: 'What is "Nothing"?' discussion on here: https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/94046/what-is-nothing/94128#94128 – CriglCragl Oct 21 '23 at 16:01
  • @CriglCragl there is no article on somethingness. – Scott Rowe Oct 21 '23 at 19:19
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    @ScottRowe: Ontology? Or historically https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/substance/ There are lots of stances & schools on the nature of somethingness/es. Almost every major philosopher has distinct views, from extension, to noumena, to the world is all that is the case.. – CriglCragl Oct 22 '23 at 00:49
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    Nothing is the mystical or ineffable experience of the empty field of awareness which we paradoxically think of as something. To speak of nothing is to evoke the distinction between nothing and something in the domain of arising concepts. In the domain of concepts there is what I call a distinction between nothing and something and in the empty field of awareness there is no arising distinction. The concept of mutually exclusive or dependent arises as another set of distinctions and consist of something. – SystemTheory Oct 22 '23 at 01:21
  • @CriglCragl Everyone has something to say about everything and nothing. But does it mean anything? :-) – Scott Rowe Oct 22 '23 at 21:58
  • @SystemTheory: "The moon passes over the ocean of non-being Droplets of spray tear loose and fall back On the cresting waves a million galaxies Are a little scum on that shoreless sea" – CriglCragl Oct 22 '23 at 22:18
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    @ScottRowe: "Your outside is in when your inside is out So come on (Woo!), come on (Woo!) Come on, it's such a joy, come on, it's such a joy Come on, let's make it easy, come on, let's make it easy Make it easy (Woo!) Make it easy (Woo!) Everybody's got something to hide Except for me and my monkey Hey! Yeah! Come on" – CriglCragl Oct 22 '23 at 22:19
  • A fruitful discussion. – Scott Rowe Oct 22 '23 at 22:28
  • The universe (something) came out of nothing. Nothing is a big deal. How did nothing become something? – Meanach Oct 28 '23 at 18:24

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Something is an unspecified thing. Nothing is the absence of things. The two words do not depend on each other; they have a shared dependency on the idea of thing.

Marco Ocram
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Nothing is what you can see of the unobservable universe. One assumes it's there. A case of nothing and something.

Chris Degnen
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There is something instead of nothing because there is a tiny, tiny asymmetry in the amount of matter and antimatter in the universe. After they annihilate, a tiny, tiny amount of ordinary matter is left over as surplus. This is why we are here.

niels nielsen
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  • Imagine how full the universe would have been if that didn't happen? No one would be asking why there is something instead of nothing. – Scott Rowe Oct 22 '23 at 21:59
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    @ScottRowe, because we... uh... would be radiation instead of matter. You know what they say- You matter- unless you light. Den you energy. – niels nielsen Oct 23 '23 at 03:33