Richard Swinburne - The Mystery of Existence

If all that exists—everything imaginable, physical and nonphysical—is 'something'. Why is there 'something' rather than 'nothing'? Wouldn't 'nothing' be simpler than any sort of 'something'? It's a haunting wonderment. It's the biggest possible question. Why is there anything at all? There must be an answer. But who can know it?



Richard Swinburne is a Fellow of the British Academy. He is Emeritus Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at the University of Oxford.


Closer to Truth presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[alpharomeo]

I got connected to this channel a year ago. One of the best. Thank you for your content.

[Dion_Mustard]

this man's intelligence is astonishing.

[reaganwiles_art]

I am always surprised that so few people I've met consider this, something rather than nothing.

[ValleDrew]

Reminded me of Bilbo meeting Gandalf at the beginning of the Hobbit.

[jjcm]

Bishop Robert Barron spoke last week with Fr Jordan Peterson. It was an illuminating conversation which managed to say alot about God. After just 5 days it has almost half a million views. Professor Swinburne is wrapped up in his head in this interview. It is actually a good point he is making but it is almost inconsequential to a sincere question asked by Dr Kuhn.

[theologus]

I read Swinburne's books. He talks like his writing--without ceasing, without hesitating. It's surprising.

[davetribbett]

Consciousness is the most fundamental “force”, everything that exists is a result of conscious perception. Universal and local consciousness manufacture reality, they are tightly coupled. Even your sensory inputs are modified and synthesized by the Universal Consciousness before we even perceive them. This coupling insures that all conscious organisms perceive physical reality the same way (object shapes, location, scale, etc) otherwise the world wouldn’t work.

[zanzivar]

I like the approach from Alan Watts, something like: for something to exist, there’s got to be nothing that goes with it. Just a matter of how we use our language. We compare this with that, up and down, light with dark, ...
They complement each other, they’re not opposites, they go along.
Nothing is what holds everything.
If nothing doesn’t exist, then, what would hold everything ?
They coexist; if not, neither could exist.

[hemant]

I think equally important question to 'why there is something rather than nothing' is why things are in certain way and not another way, like why there is something like 'space', 'time' and space being 3 dimensions, not 1, 2, or 100, million dimensional and time one dimensional with past and future and other similar questions... Reality could have been in infinite different ways but somehow is in certain one way among infinite possibilities

[SRAVALM]

Blessed are those who seek within.
The cosmos is worthy of awe.
We are not seperate.
Life is uncomprehensible,
those who grasp it waste not a thought or moment.

[albertjackson]

Too many people that try to understand how we got here think that it all happened in a very short time, not 3, 000, 000, 000 years.

[Bubofinansanalysochutbildning]

Here comes your answer. Something exists because it has always existed.

[PaulMarostica]

As always, a very well made show, considering a thoughtfully posed scientific question(s), thoughtfully answered by a scientist. But you keep asking scientists who don't have definitive answers, so they can only speculate. I can logically, definitively, permanently answer many of the scientific questions you are asking. I would be happy to do an interview.

[suatustel]

People curious about why there's something rather than nothing should read Derek parfait essay'truth matters'

[mickeybrumfield]

Just because there is existence that doesn't necessarily mean it is a complete existence, not sure we got the whole thing. Seems we are always having to fill things in, questions concerning God might be an indication of this.

[BigMTBrain]

POSSIBILITY is your "god". In all regression, the only thing that constantly exists is possibility. Within all possibility, "nothing" is singular, the least probable, practically impossible, while "something" is infinite, extremely probable, practically imperative.

[whitefiddle]

Wow, the search for ultimate reality! What could be funner?

[AgolaOdero]

So what are the rules about the rules about sentences?

[sideswiped]

good and bad is simply a natural thing to think. I mean look back to the cave. your setting in the cave and you are hungry, you see a big bug, then you look out the window at the tree and you see a fig, you think, "aaa, fig good bug bad"

[georgegrubbs]

Why is "nothing" the most logical possibility? Not so. It is as logical that foundational reality is a fundamental substrate of "something." That "something" could be nothing like anything we know; it could be even more fundamental than quantum foam - we just do not know. The ground of being could be a foundational field of potentialities. So, where did that come from? It doesn't have to come from anything more fundamental as it is the most fundamental and it has always existed. Why is there something rather than nothing? Why not?