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Single Idea 19341
[filed under theme 7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 5. Reason for Existence
]
Full Idea
Since something rather than nothing exists, there is a certain urge for existence, or (so to speak) a straining toward existence in possible things or in possibility or essence itself; in a word, essence in and of itself strives for existence.
Gist of Idea
There must be a straining towards existence in the essence of all possible things
Source
Gottfried Leibniz (On the Ultimate Origination of Things [1697], p.150)
Book Ref
Leibniz,Gottfried: 'Philosophical Essays', ed/tr. Arlew,R /Garber,D [Hackett 1989], p.150
A Reaction
Thus 'essence precedes existence'. Not sure I understand this, but at least it places an active power at the root of everything (though Leibniz probably sees that as divine). The Big Bang triggered by a 'quantum fluctuation'?
The
18 ideas
with the same theme
[why do things (or anything at all) exist?]:
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458
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Nothing could come out of nothing, and existence could never completely cease
[Empedocles]
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1707
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Maybe necessity and non-necessity are the first principles of ontology
[Aristotle]
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17179
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There must always be a reason or cause why some triangle does or does not exist
[Spinoza]
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19400
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Possibles demand existence, so as many of them as possible must actually exist
[Leibniz]
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19401
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God's sufficient reason for choosing reality is in the fitness or perfection of possibilities
[Leibniz]
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5062
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First: there must be reasons; Second: why anything at all?; Third: why this?
[Leibniz]
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7696
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Leibniz first asked 'why is there something rather than nothing?'
[Leibniz, by Jacquette]
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19341
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There must be a straining towards existence in the essence of all possible things
[Leibniz]
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19428
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Because something does exist, there must be a drive in possible things towards existence
[Leibniz]
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3942
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I do not believe in the existence of anything, if I see no reason to believe it
[Berkeley]
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5646
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Hegel gives an ontological proof of the existence of everything
[Hegel, by Scruton]
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16007
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I assume existence, rather than reasoning towards it
[Kierkegaard]
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7692
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Being is maximal consistency
[Jacquette]
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7687
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Existence is completeness and consistency
[Jacquette]
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19662
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It is necessarily contingent that there is one thing rather than another - so something must exist
[Meillassoux]
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17320
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Either p is true or not-p is true, so something is true, so something exists
[Liggins]
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19482
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Current physics says matter and antimatter should have reduced to light at the big bang
[New Sci.]
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19483
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CP violation shows a decay imbalance in matter and antimatter, leading to matter's dominance
[New Sci.]
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