Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)
Abstract
It seems natural to ask why the universe exists at all. Modern physics suggests that the universe can exist all by itself as a self-contained system, without anything external to create or sustain it. But there might not be an absolute answer to why it exists. I argue that any attempt to account for the existence of something rather than nothing must ultimately bottom out in a set of brute facts; the universe simply is, without ultimate cause or explanation.
Comments: Invited contribution to the Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Physics, eds. E. Knox and A. Wilson
It seems natural to ask why the universe exists at all. Modern physics suggests that the universe can exist all by itself as a self-contained system, without anything external to create or sustain it. But there might not be an absolute answer to why it exists. I argue that any attempt to account for the existence of something rather than nothing must ultimately bottom out in a set of brute facts; the universe simply is, without ultimate cause or explanation.
Comments: Invited contribution to the Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Physics, eds. E. Knox and A. Wilson
Subjects: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph); General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
Report number: CALT 2018-004
Cite as: arXiv:1802.02231 [physics.hist-ph]
(or arXiv:1802.02231v1 [physics.hist-ph] for this version)
Submission history From: Sean Carroll [view email]
[v1] Tue, 6 Feb 2018 21:42:22 GMT (22kb)
FREE PDF GRATIS: ArXiv
