by Jim Holt
gravitation theory of, 100, 186–87
laws of, 126
and substantival view of space, 49
Weinberg on theories of, 155–56, 158, 159
Newtonian-Galilean revolution, 126
New York Times, 63, 164–65
nirvana, 31, 269
nothingness, 6, 12, 33, 35, 36–45, 78, 91, 104, 117, 210–11
in Abrahamic tradition, 19
absolute, 21–22, 46–47, 50, 52, 54–59, 69
Being and, 215, 218, 227
Big Bang and, 55
and concept of zero, 36–37, 39
consciousness and, 43, 46–48, 56
container argument and, 48–50
convergent series and, 38
cosmogony and, 19–20
death and, see death
definition of, 143
doctrine of creation and, 19–20
empty universe and, 58–59
entropy and, 61
existentialism and, 43–44
Grünbaum on, 69–70
Heidegger on, 43
infinite series and, 38–39
instability of, 140–41
logic and, 57–58
nirvana as state of, 31
nothing and, 45–46
Nozick’s view of, 43–44, 132–33
Null World possibility and, 59–62, 67, 69–70, 71, 75, 77, 234, 236
numbers and, 37
Parfit’s view of, 231–32, 235
Parmenidean line on, 44–45
principle of fecundity and, 135
relativity theory and, 49–50
as self-generating, 41–42
set theory and, 39–40, 45
simplicity principle and, 77
spacetime and, 49–52
spontaneous creation and, 27–28, 140, 142–44
time and, 39
in Updike’s Roger’s Version, 244–46
vacuum state and, 51–52
Nozick, Robert, 28, 132–36, 159, 231, 232, 241
fecundity principle and, see fecundity, principle of
nothingness as viewed by, 43–44, 132–33
on self, 261
self-subsumption principle of, 133–34, 136
Null World possibility, 224–25, 227, 231, 238, 239, 241
nothingness and, 59–62, 67, 69–70, 71, 75, 77, 234, 236
Oblomov (Goncharov), 254
Occam’s Razor, 76, 168, 189
Oedipus at Colonus (Sophocles), 255
Old Testament, 101
ontological argument, 132
existence and, 112–13
Kant’s criticism of, 112–13, 116, 119
laws of physics and, 161–62
modal logic and, 115–18
Saint Anselm’s reasoning and, 110–15, 116
Oscillating Universe, 83–84, 87
panpsychism, 194–96
Paradise Lost (Milton), 212
parallel worlds, 135, 165–66, 169
Parfit, Derek, 73, 221, 226–30, 257, 259–60, 264–65
on cosmic possibilities, 225–27, 232–36
death as viewed by, 269
nothingness as viewed by, 231–32, 235
theory of personal identity of, 222–23
Why? question approach of, 223–24
Why? question in author’s correspondence with, 237–42
Parmenides, 41–42, 44–45
Pascal, Blaise, 244
Pauli exclusion principle, 187–88
Peirce, C. S., 9, 170
Penrose, Roger, 34–35, 139, 173, 174–85, 196, 217
on consciousness, 174–75, 178, 185
cosmic censorship hypothesis of, 173
on Platonic world, 177–79
twistor theory of, 173
Penrose tribar, 173–74
Penzias, Arno, 27
periodic table, 70, 77
“Personal Identity” (Parfit), 222
phenomenological movement, 262
philosopher’s fallacy, 47–48, 266
Philosophical Explanations (Nozick), 28
philosophy:
definition of, 279
nature of, 24
truth in, 24
physics, 172
Picked-up Pieces (Updike), 244
Pirahã Indians, 19
Pius XII, Pope, 25
Pivot, Bernard, 277–79
Planck’s constant, 76
Plantinga, Alvin, 104, 115–18, 157
Plato, 8–9, 19, 44, 102, 129, 135, 170, 171–72, 174, 197, 209, 223
axiarchism of, 198–99, 203, 208
transcendent Forms of, 161, 175, 177–78, 183–85, 199
Platonism, 174, 182, 184–85, 186
existence and, 182
God, 173
mathematics and, 171–72
Penrose on, 177–79
plenitude, principle of, 135
pocket universes, 158–59
Polkinghorne, John, 197
polychemistry, 70
Pope, Alexander, 171
Popper, Karl, 158
Posterior Analytics (Aristotle), 131
principle of fecundity, see fecundity, principle of
Principle of Foundation, 237–38, 239–42
Principle of Sufficient Reason, 7, 20, 78, 84, 87, 104, 110, 237–38, 240–42
“Principles of Nature and Grace, Based on Reason” (Leibniz), 20
Principles of Psychology (James), 193
Proust, Marcel, 29, 35, 67, 222
Putnam, Hilary, 168–69
Pyke, Steve, 228
Pythagoras, 170–71, 177
quantum cosmology, 140, 145
quantum theory, 144, 184, 278
entanglement and, 195–96, 198
existence and, 128–29, 157–58
many-worlds interpretation of, 121
at moment of the Big Bang, 140
multiverse and, 167, 169
Pauli exclusion principle and, 187–88
question of existence and, 128–29, 157–58
subatomic particles in, 187
twistor theory and, 173
universal computer concept and, 120–22
quantum uncertainty, 145
quantum vacuum, 142
Quine, Willard Van Orman, 58–59, 183–84, 230
Rabbit Run (Updike), 247
reality, 138, 186–87, 240, 252, 253
alienation and, 270
Aristotle’s doctrine of, 186
as Becoming, 218–19
Buddhist view of, 278–79
comprehensibility and, 120
consciousness and, 190–94
genetic, 241–42
as information, 189–90
mathematics and, 189
as mediocrity, 253–54
Parmenides and, 44–45
physicists’ view of, 188–89
Platonic, 8–9
and principle of fecundity, 135
science’s description of, 188
Selector and, 226, 228, 232–36
self-creation and, 261
simulated, 129, 191–92
subjective aspect of, 190–92
universal computer and, 121–22
Updike on, 252
reason, 7–9
Reasons and Persons (Parfit), 222
Rees, Martin, Baron Rees of Ludlow, 197
relativity, general theory of, 25, 27, 48, 50, 66, 74, 139, 144–45, 155, 162, 173, 183, 184, 250
Remembrance of Things Past (Proust), 29
Renzo (author’s dog), 151–53
Republic (Plato), 171, 175, 185, 199
Rescher, Nicholas, 9
retrocausation, 73–74
Rochester, John Wilmot, Earl of, 41
Roger’s Version (Updike), 39, 244–49
Rolling Stones, 88, 274
Rubirosa, Porfirio, 88
Rundle, Bede, 49, 54
Russell, Bertrand, 24, 58, 111, 119, 131, 159, 184–85, 188, 193, 200, 219
on evil, 213–14
on existence,
254
on God, 254
on mathematics, 183
S (patient), 47
Sandage, Allan, 138
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 3, 89, 209, 216–17, 219, 261, 274, 279
God as viewed by, 90–91
on existence, 254
nothingness as viewed by, 31–32, 43, 149–50, 231
Saussure, Ferdinand de, 188
Scheler, Max, 35
Schelling, Friedrich, 22, 261
Schopenhauer, Arthur, 18, 33, 65, 66, 111, 213, 219, 226, 266, 269
on existence, 21–22, 30–31
on self, 258
Schrödinger’s cat, 167
science, 7, 9, 139, 147, 183, 184, 193
empirical truth and, 24–25
principle of simplicity in, 75–78, 96, 100, 105–6
reality as described by, 188
Sandage on, 138
singularity and, 93
Updike on, 247
Why? question and, 5–6
Science of Logic (Hegel), 216–18, 219
Science without Numbers (Field), 184
Scruton, Roger, 270
Searle, John, 191–92, 196
Selector, 214, 237–39
reality and, 226, 228, 232–36
self, 255–65
Cartesian pronoun “I” and, 256–57, 260–61, 262, 264–65
Fichte’s view of, 261–62
genetic identity and, 255–56
Hume’s view of, 256–57, 258, 260
Husserl’s view of, 262
as illusion, 260
Metaphysical, 262
Nozick’s view of, 261
objective, 262–64
physical criteria of, 259–60
psychological criteria of, 258–60
Schopenhauer on, 258
as self-creating, 260–61
as subject of consciousness, 257–58
self-subsumption, 133–34, 136
sets, theory of, 30, 238, 240
nothingness and, 39–40, 45
Shadows of the Mind (Penrose), 174–75, 180, 196
Shannon, Claude, 61
Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well-Being (Spinoza), 205
simplicity, principle of, 119, 238, 241
nothingness and, 77
in science, 75–78, 96, 100, 105–6
Swinburne on, 96–97
singularity:
event horizon and, 173
at moment of the Big Bang, 139
quantum cosmology and, 140
science and, 93
time and, 74–75
Smart, J. J. C. “Jack,” 72, 76, 197
Socrates, 44, 155, 185, 267
solar system, 6
Somewhere in Time (film), 87
Sontag, Susan, 91
Sophocles, 255
spacetime, 25, 48, 59, 74, 75, 139, 143–44, 183, 189
multiverse and, 165
nothingness and, 49–52
Spinoza, Baruch, 34, 101, 253
evil as viewed by, 213–14
God of, 34, 204–5
spontaneity, 67–68
Sprigge, T. L. S., 193
Steady-State Universe, 83
Steiner, George, 248
Strawson, Galen, 257
string theory, 169, 187, 251
Landscape of, 158–59, 225
universe and, 145–46
Updike on, 251
Weinberg on, 158–59
strong nuclear force, 78
structuralist movement, 188–89
suffering, 31
Sufficient Reason, Principle of, 7, 20, 78, 84, 87, 104, 110, 237–38, 240–42
Susskind, Leonard, 169–70
“Swimmer, The” (Cheever), 274
Swinburne, Richard, 92, 94, 108, 110, 119, 125, 133, 134, 164, 217
on doctrine of atonement, 102–3
God as viewed by, 92–93, 95–106, 204
on Grünbaum, 95–96
on multiverse, 97–98
on simplicity principle, 96–97
Why? question and, 163
Tegmark, Max, 182–83, 184, 189
Temple, William, 68
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 3
Thales, 19, 29, 70, 78
Theory of Everything, 78, 145
Weinberg on, 146–47, 155–56, 158, 160–63
thermodynamics, second law of, 61
This I Believe (radio program), 251
“This Will Be the Last Time” (song), 274
Thom, René, 172
Thomas Aquinas, Saint, 20, 68, 82, 92, 97, 103, 105, 111, 248, 252
Thorne, Kip, 173
Through the Looking-Glass (Carroll), 44
time, 246, 249, 278
Big Bang and, 71–72, 74–75
emergence of, 39
entropy and, 61
God and, 103
as illusion, 190
infinite, 81–82, 85–86
nothingness, opposites and, 39
in Oscillating Universe, 83
retrocausation and, 73–74
subjective end of, 268
uncertainty principle and, 141
Time, 115
Tipler, Frank, 190
Tolkein, J. R. R., 124
Tolstoy, Leo, 30
Torricelli, Evangelista, 51
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (Wittgenstein), 17, 23, 162, 248, 262
Tragic Sense of Life (Unamuno), 268
Treatise of Human Nature (Hume), 256–57
tribar, Penrose, 173–74
truth, 58–59, 147
beauty and, 251
empirical, 24–25
goodness and, 211
logical, 24
mathematics and, 172, 180–81, 183
in philosophy, 24
in science, 24–25
Tryon, Ed, 141–42, 163
Turing, Alan, 121, 156
twistor theory, 173
Ulysses (Joyce), 3
“Ulysses” (Tennyson), 3
Unamuno, Miguel de, 268
uncertainty principle, 10, 140–41, 157, 163, 188
universally free logic, 58
universe:
age of, 81–82
anthropic principle and, 98
before Big Bang, 70–71
Big Bang and origin of, 26–27
Cartesian view of, 7–8
chaotic inflation theory and, 12–16, 84
closed, 141–43
as computer simulation, 190–92
consciousness and, 8
cosmic background radiation of, 13–14, 26–27, 83–84
cosmic possibilities and, 224–26
creation ex nihilo doctrine and, 19–20, 67–68, 140, 142–43, 161, 162
creation myths and, 18–19
emergence of time and, 39
empty, 58–59
entropy of, 61
ethical need for, 199, 207
expansion of, 25–26, 83, 123, 139, 166
God and, 5–7, 21, 67–68
infinite time and, 81–83, 85–86
as information, 189–90
Islamic view of, 19–22
isomorphic, 109
in Judeo-Christian theology, 19–22, 67–68
and law of mass-energy conservation, 86–87
maximal world, 135
multiverse and, see multiverse
no-boundary model of, 5–7
nothing theorists and, 27–28
omega point of, 73
Oscillating, 83–84, 87
pocket, 158–59
as quantum fluctuation, 141–42
quantum tunneling and creation of, 161–62
singularity and, 74–75, 139
Steady-State, 83
string theory and, 145–46
in Western thought, 81–82
zero-energy, 141–42
Universes (Leslie), 197–98
Updike, John, 18, 32, 39, 243–52, 254
on consciousness, 250–51
existence question and,
244–46, 248–49
on God, 251–52
on reality, 252
on science, 247
on string theory, 251
on theology of Barth, 247
on Why? question, 248
“Upon Nothing” (Rochester), 41
vacuum, 140
false, 218–19
nothingness and, 51–52
quantum, 142
Value and Existence (Leslie), 200
“Vanity of Existence, The” (Schopenhauer), 266
Varghese, Roy Abraham, 6
Vatican, 25
Victoria, Queen of England, 3
View from Nowhere, The (Nagel), 73
Vikings, 18
Vilenkin, Alex, 50, 142–44, 145, 155, 161, 163, 217
Voltaire, 9, 15, 20, 212
von Cramm, Gottfried, 88
von Neumann, John, 61
Wall Street Journal, 122
Waterfall (Escher), 174
weak nuclear force, 48, 78, 146
Weinberg, Steven, 77, 146, 150, 153, 154–62, 164, 166, 207, 226, 228
on fecundity principle, 159–60
on final theory, 146–47, 155–56, 158, 160–63
on God, 155
on multiverse, 156–59, 169–70
on Newton’s theories, 155–56, 158, 159
on religion, 147, 154–55
on string theory, 158–59
Wheeler, John Archibald, 35, 40, 121, 128, 189
Whitehead, Alfred North, 198
“Why Anything? Why This?” (Parfit), 222, 234
Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing (Rundle), 49
Wigner, Eugene, 172
will, 31, 269
Williams, Bernard, 259, 264–65
Williams, Tennessee, 32
Williamson, Timothy, 29–30
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 17–18, 30, 59, 66–67, 72, 82, 154, 162, 209, 230, 248, 262, 265
mystery of existence and, 23–24, 33–34
Wolfram, Stephen, 190
Wollheim, Richard, 267–68
Woozley, A. D., 10
Word of God and the Word of Man, The (Barth), 247
World War I, 23
World War II, 65
Zeno of Elea, 82
Zermelo, Ernst, 40
zero, 36–37, 39, 99
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jim Holt is a longtime contributor to The New Yorker—where he has written on string theory, time, infinity, numbers, truth, and bullshit, among other subjects—and the author of Stop Me If You’ve Heard This: A History and Philosophy of Jokes. He is also a frequent contributor to the New York Times and the London Review of Books. He lives in Greenwich Village.
Copyright © 2012 by Jim Holt
All rights reserved
First Edition
Excerpt from “Epistemology” from Ceremony and Other Poems,
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