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Full Idea
It is a powerful argument for something's non-existence that it would make absolutely no difference.
Gist of Idea
A thing which makes no difference seems unlikely to exist
Source
Robin Le Poidevin (Travels in Four Dimensions [2003], 02 'Everything')
Book Ref
Le Poidevin,Robin: 'Travels in Four Dimensions' [OUP 2003], p.27
A Reaction
Powerful, but not conclusive. Neutrinos don't seem to do much, so it isn't far from there to get a particle which does nothing.
Related Idea
Idea 7022 To be is to have a capacity, to act on other things, or to receive actions [Plato]
445 | The realm of necessary non-existence cannot be explored, because it is unknowable [Parmenides] |
1503 | There is no such thing as nothing [Parmenides] |
18933 | Not-Being obviously doesn't exist, and the five modes of Being are all impossible [Gorgias, by Diog. Laertius] |
20902 | Being does not exist more than non-being [Democritus, by Aristotle] |
20904 | The non-existent exists as much as the existent, because it has causal powers [Democritus] |
11278 | What does 'that which is not' refer to? [Plato] |
24029 | Among the simples are the graspable negations, such as rest and instants [Descartes] |
21762 | To grasp an existence, we must consider its non-existence [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
21977 | Nothing exists, as thinkable and expressible [Hegel] |
22919 | A thing which makes no difference seems unlikely to exist [Le Poidevin] |
14393 | The totality state is the most plausible truthmaker for negative existential truths [Merricks] |
23538 | Nothingness only exists in consciousness [Berardi] |
12408 | Sartre to Waitress: Coffee with no cream, please... [Sommers,W] |