Does "nothing" exist?: Philosophy Forums

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Does "nothing" exist?

eternally_missed
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0 of 1 people found this post helpful Posted 12/16/07 - 08:46 PM: Subject: Does "nothing" exist?	#1
Ok so I've been thinking about the subject, if nothing exists or not. Basically, lets just say that a scientist has come to the conclusion that he detected nothing. He obviously detected something, since he had a sense that SOMETHING was there. I personally think nothing is really something. And the reason why we say its "nothing" is because on our plane of existence, meaning life, it appears to be nothing because it's a space occupied by a different type of existence that we are incapable of knowing anyway. I really don't know. Edited by hyena in petticoat on 02/28/08 - 07:50 PM. Reason: Illiteracy.

psychopath
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Posted 12/17/07 - 04:46 AM:	#2
eternally_missed wrote: Does "nothing" exist? I honestly do not know

Cadrache
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Posted 12/17/07 - 10:46 PM:	#3
Um.. According to Landlady's find, concerning the illusion of Reality, the answer currently is no. There is supposedly 'energy' that is currently undefined that exists in empty space. For more info concerning that, check the Casimir effect. http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/9747 Ps. I've read about it briefly in a couple other articles, though this particular one is few and far between.
Words the wiser become the name you do not know. - Some guy with a surname Blanchard. _____________________________________________ Truth is want. - The internal state of matters. Truth is Need. - The external state of affairs.

Axu94
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Posted 12/20/07 - 06:45 AM:	#4
No, nothing does not exist, concretely. It's an abstract thing. A name for the opposite of 'everything', that inevitably exists and whitout which, we could not live. Everything and nothing are clear opposites. Everything is relative, but nothing is not, everything has to exist, but nothing can not. Almost exactly like black and white, that are spectres. White is all light, while black is no light. Therefore you can say white and black are symbolic colours for everything and nothing.
Everything one can imagine is a possible reality.

wuliheron
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Posted 12/25/07 - 12:57 PM:	#5
Nothin' from nothin' ain't nothin' What do you got? Not a lot.

jimRH7
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Posted 01/09/08 - 09:47 AM:	#6
What about virtual particles? They are particles that exist in vacuums and appear in pairs from nowhere, only to collide and annihilate each other, it's how they detect black holes - one of the pair falls into the black hole, the other escapes, and the astronomer sees a stream of particles appearing from nowhere. Is this getting something from nothing? One answer is that the energy to make the particles is borrowed from the future, when they collide. (nb: i don't actually know that much about these, I read it somewhere ages ago, please feel free to correct me if you know better!) Edited by Landlady on 01/13/08 - 09:00 PM. Reason: spelling

jimRH7
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Posted 01/09/08 - 10:03 AM:	#7
I was also thinking about a vacuum, I thought that since a vacuum can effect things it must exist, like a gas diffusing out into it, but that doesn't work if you say that the diffusing is entirely a property of the gas...it's like saying darkness can kill a plant (axu94). Also, would anyone here deny the existence of three dimensional space? That seems to be what happens if you say nothing doesn't exist; otherwise, what separates two objects that are apart? What do they move through to come next to each other? Edited by Landlady on 01/13/08 - 09:03 PM. Reason: Capitalization

cdw112
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Posted 01/09/08 - 08:01 PM:	#8
"also, would anyone here deny the existance of three dimentoinal space? that seems ot be what happens if you say nothing doesn't exist, otherwise what separates two objects that are apart? what do they move through to come next to each other?" What seperates two different objects is not "nothing", but rather, it is something. Whether it is air, space, particles, properties, or vacuums they are all something. I dont see how it is possible for "nothing" (whatever that may be)to exist. I am not completly convinced we, as humans, can concieve of such a thing, becuase, whenever we engadge in thoughts about "nothing" that in itself is something. We cannot get in touch with the nature of "nothing" becuase if we did there would not be ANYTHING there, including us or any part of us.

perseus
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Posted 01/10/08 - 01:11 AM:	#9
When we attempt to isolate and characterise particles they seem to become more nebulous, do they exist with specific position and velocity? It also requires other particles to determine their existence, so we are probing something we don't know about with something else we don't know about. . We must also ask what is the ultimate ontology of particles, how could such an indivisible thing exist? We quickly reach the limits of knowledge since science only determines relations. It has therefore been theorised that there may only be relations between empty spaceholders, if so then your theory may be not as crazy as it sounds. Another approach is idealism, where there needs to be only pure thought. In materialism, providing we accept a high degree of ignorance about the true reality of things then this quickly reverts into the same thing.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. George Bernard Shaw

HiYama
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Posted 01/13/08 - 05:09 PM:	#10
This is a good question. Can nothing exist? The answer is yes. I know it can on some sub-consience level but I cannot bring it to the forfront of my mind. But after thinking about it for a minute I guess the answer is no. Nothing cannot exist becuase by the very fact of it existing makes it something. Lets say you make a vacuum in a glass sphere. Could that be considered nothing? I think that a vacuum that came close achieving true nothingness within the sphere would shatter it before it attained such a goal? Just a guess. Maybe someone who knows this stuff can help me out? Just thinking out loud.
A clear view doesnt always help a clouded mind. Jonathan Kellerman, in his book "Monster"

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