Single Idea 448

[catalogued under 7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / a. Nature of Being]

Full Idea

What necessity impelled Being, if it did spring from nothing, to be produced later or earlier? Thus it must be absolutely, or not at all.

Gist of Idea

No necessity could produce Being either later or earlier, so it must exist absolutely or not at all

Source

Parmenides (fragments/reports [c.474 BCE], B08 ll.?), quoted by Simplicius - On Aristotle's 'Physics' 9.145.1-

Book Reference

'Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers', ed/tr. Freeman,Kathleen [Harvard 1957], p.43


A Reaction

If there is a moment when Being is created, it is reasonable to ask why then, and not some other time? Obviously a conscious God can fill that gap,but that only defers the problem.