Why Not Nothing

Why is there something rather than nothing? Why do certain things exist? Why are things the way they are? This question, "Why not nothing? " asks if it is possible to think of a world where nothing exists. This question is significant because it brings up the idea of conceiving other possible worlds. It gives one the ability of imaging worlds in a different way. Could one picture a world without water bottles? Is it possible for triangles to have more than one-hundred eighty degrees?

This question enables us to think of all different possibilities without assumptions, so why not nothing? Godly necessitarianism says there is not nothing because God is a necessary being. If something is necessary it exists in all possible worlds. Since God is necessary, no contingent things exist. Contingent things are things that could be otherwise or could be imagined differently. For instance, one could imagine a world without chili cheese dogs, with two suns, or without triangles.

One could picture in their mind a world differently. However, godly necessitarians believe that another world, such as world W, could never exist because God is a necessary being and everything he created is necessary. There could never be nothing because God is necessary. God is all loving, all powerful, and all knowing. Therefore, everything in the world has a purpose. Another world could never be imagined because God has created everything perfectly the way it is meant to be.

Everything that exists or happens is through God. Godly necessitarianism puts up the argument if God is necessary then there are no other possible worlds. God is necessary. Therefore, there are no other possible worlds (class notes, 1/23/13). An object to godly necessitarianism could concern the idea of vanishing possibilities (ROE,92). Vanishing ossibilities mean that if God is necessary and perfectly good, then many worlds are impossible and only the perfect world exists. This is false because our world does contain evil.

People starving, abuse, and racism are Just a few evil things that exist. If godly necessitarianism were true, the one world that would exist would be the perfect world where everything is necessary because he is all loving, all powerful, and all knowing. One could not say that a child being abused is through God''s love. If he was all powerful, he would not allow that to happen. Evil is not a perfect nor necessary thing, therefore evil things would not exist. Since they do exist, this contradicts the second premise that says God is necessary.

If God is the perfect being he would not have created these things that are evil. This idea of vanishing possibilities does not mean God is not possible, but it challenges God''s status as a necessary being. A perfectly good being would not allow the existence of suffering for no good reason, or the existence of unjustified human degradation (ROE, 92). Therefore, since evil exists God is not a necessary perfectly good being making the godly necessitarian outlook invalid proving there could be nothing. Why Not Nothing By malbrown12