Why is there something rather than nothing? (Humans)

by dhw, Sunday, April 03, 2011, 22:54 (4779 days ago) @ xeno6696

For Matt and George:-TONY: The reason the concept of nothing is so hard to fathom is because it is an impossible state. 'Nothing', much like 'Time', 'Darkness', and the 'color black', is an intellectual construct that has no place in reality other than as an abstract to help us understand 'something'. Binary thinking is dangerous in that way. It allows us to create a concept that does not really exist and try to use it as if it does exist.-dhw: Please put me out of my philosophical misery and 1) define what you mean by "reality", and 2) give me three examples of things that are "real".
 
MATT (03 April at 18.30): I think Balance's point is simply that there is no objective reality. Even science to a great extent is ultimately a consensus on what we think is real. Yes, empiricism makes it strong, but not canonical.-dhw (31 March at 13.34): All words describe individual facets of what we believe to be reality. We can never perceive or symbolize the whole. On a philosophical level we can't KNOW how far our perceptions and symbols do and don't correspond to reality, but on a commonsense level, we go by general consensus (see our long-lost thread on the epistemological framework). 
 
We seem to be in agreement here. But your later statement that "everything is subjective" should NOT be taken to mean that intersubjectivity (the consensus) is necessarily out of synch with reality. -GEORGE: Does dhw really want some examples of things that really exist? His mind must be in a perpetual state of fog, with everything around him fluctuating in and out of existence. Is this a table I see before me?-Maybe, George, you missed my discussions with Matt (including warnings about the reality of the approaching bus). In view of Tony's apparent certainty as to what does and does not constitute reality, I have asked for clarification through a definition and examples. In this context, perhaps you yourself could clear some of the fog by giving your own definition of reality, plus three examples of things you consider to be real.***-*** EDITED LATER: On reflection, it would be more useful if you would tell us whether you consider nothing, darkness, time and the colour black to be part of what Matt calls the "fabric of reality".-GEORGE: Did anyone here see Jim Al-Khalilli's programmes on "Everything and Nothing" which summarised the modern physics understanding of these terms? There's only two days left to see "Nothing" though! He interprets it in terms of quantum theory as a void in which matter and antimatter particles keep appearing and disappearing as quantum fluctuations, in accordance with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and Dirac's equation.-http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zw0n6-Many thanks for this reference. I found it extremely helpful.