The third level of criticism by Hume is whether it makes sense to seek an answer to the question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” Phillips quotes Philo who seeks to demolish the comparison of the building of a house to the creation of the universe – he states that we cannot observe such a thing or point to it. Phillips calls into question whether it even makes sense to speak of an absolute state of nothing at all. He says, “Remember that when it is said that there might have been nothing, this is supposed to be a state which could exist” (69). I agree with Phillips criticism that “we cannot refer to any process or development in answering the question” ‘who made the world’ because “if we want to give the cause of ‘everything’, what else is there to refer to?” (69).
Hume did think that it made sense to speak of ‘the world’ and to speculate what its origins might be” (69). I think that Phillips point about whether the word nothing in an absolute sense makes sense. This point undermines the cosmological argument – if it does not make sense to speak of nothing, then does it make sense to ask why there is something? We experience that there is in fact something, and we have never experienced anything different. Phillips further points out that to refer to the universe as a “thing” is confused, and that Hume makes this mistake. What could it even mean to have nothing exist at all? I agree that we are not discussing something – an object like a house – when we speak of the universe – and Phillips point that when we speak of ‘the world,’ this “must include, presumably, not only that which exists, but that which no longer exists, and that which is yet to exist” (71). These are very fascinating observations and thoughts concerning the concept of the universe and the concept of non-existence. I agree with Phillips – what would it mean to speak of nothing? What do we even mean when we speak of ‘the world’ or ‘the universe?’ ‘Nothing’ is something that seems to lack any referent ‘The world’ includes all of existence (without any referent to non-existence’) –for all time past, present, and future. We are swimming in the all-encompassing ocean of existence, and it seems that the concept of non-existence is not only beyond our experience, it is probably beyond our imagination. If at some point there was nothing, then I do not think we would be here to ponder its non-existence. These matters of ‘nothing’ and the timeless nature of the world – and the aspect of ‘the world’ not being an object or a thing all are extremely fascinating to me. I think we are coming to the very edges of the capacity for human understanding. This reinforces my assent to Philos’s statement that “nature must remain an incomprehensible mystery to us” – it is beyond my comprehension and I love to wonder at it all.
