Philo
Sophos
·com

philosophy is for everyone
and not just philosophers

philosophers should know lots
of things besides philosophy


PhiloSophos knowledge base

Pathways to Philosophy programs

Pathways web sites

Philosophy lovers gallery

Science, arts and humanities

PhiloSophos home

home first back 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 forward

Maral asked:

I want to know where is the start of the world! and when will it end? ...How can I find the truth?!
Where is it? :(I got confused with lots of questions and answers, can you help me??!

============

Socrates once said, that the unexamined life is not worth leading; he might also have said, and he
acted that way, that the unexamined question is not worth asking.

What has a start and what has an end is an event.Question, is the world an event? Is it something
that happened? The world is something that can be said to consist of events. But just because it
consists of events, that doesn't mean that it itself is an event that had a beginning and will have an
end. (I suppose you are talking about what the philosopher Kant called, "the totality." and not just
Earth or even the Solar System, but the Universe.) So unless we have a reason to think the Universe
is an event in time and in space, your question, which supposes that, makes no literal sense.

Einstein's theory of Special Relativity implies that both time and space are a part of the universe, the
world. If that is true, then there was (literally) no time "before" the world existed, because there was
no "before," and the world is literally in no place, since there was literally no place before the world
existed. Einstein's theory of Special Relativity has replaced Sir Isaac Newton's "empty bucket" theory
of space and time. Newton understood both space and time as absolute, and the picture of creation is
rather like the picture presented in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. Empty space, empty time, and
the world suddenly appears at a particular time and particular place. But,if you come to think about it,
in empty space there isnot particular place: where would that be? And in empty time there isno
particular moment: when would that be?

That "empty bucket" picture, and that is what it is, a picture, has now been superseded by Relativity
theory, but most people have not caught up with it yet, since it is comparatively recent. Think of the
old idea that the Earth is flat and that people might fall off the Earth in case they went too far. They
would ask the question, why don't people who go beyond the horizon fall off the earth? After science
discarded that view, many people still held on to that view for a long time. But now, no educated
person asks why people do not fall off the Earth when they go beyond the horizon. That question
assumed something that was false, so the question itself was wrong. Now most people have caught
up to the round Earth view and discarded the flat Earth view. I am pretty sure that people will catch up
to Relativity too, although it may take a little longer.

To summarize: your question supposes a certain view of things: empty space and empty time. But,
science has now replaced that view. Therefore, your question is wrong, and that's the only answer to
it. Re-examine your question.

Kenneth Stern