1. Do we Have Free Will?
1.1. Determinism and Free Will
1.1.1. WHAT? Determinism is the idea that all decision and action is determined by previous occurrences, meanwhile freewill is the exact opposite. Freewill is the power of choice, meaning we have the power to make our own choices and decisions.
1.1.2. WHO? Spinoza was a philosopher who believed that God did not create the earth, but that the earth is a part of god and he states that God did not create the earth out of an act of freewill. He also believes that everyone has freewill, but not all act on it, and some may make decisions based off of others actions.
1.1.3. WHY? This relates to the question because based off of Spinoza's statements, everyone should have freewill, but some refuse to act on it, making them sheep. We as humans do have the characteristic of freewill, but it depends on the person to decide if they want to make decisions for themselves or not.
1.2. Identity and Change
1.2.1. WHAT? Identity is what makes an individual unique from others. Whereas change is an alteration of that, when an individual changes what makes them unique.
1.2.2. WHO? Gottfried Leibniz was a philosopher who believed that there are no separate objects or entities that have every property in common.
1.2.3. WHY? Although we as humans have things that make us all different and unique in our own ways, we do tend to share some mental aspects in common with each other. One of these mental aspects may be that of free will, meaning we all have some form of free will, but the unique part is how much we tend to act on it.
1.3. Objects and Their Properties
1.3.1. WHAT? Abstract or physical things that can be considered properties. An object is something that can be observed, like a t-shirt. The properties of that shirt would be the color, for example, red.
1.3.2. WHO? Aristotle believed that everything that exists has specific properties and a specific nature. Each entity exists as something in particular and has characteristics that are a part of what it is.
1.3.3. WHY? Similar to Identity and Change, as humans we are all different yes, but there are things, also known as properties, that keep us similar to each other. A property, although it is not visible, is our free will. It is a part of us as humans and our ability to use it differentiates us from others.
2. What is the meaning of life?
2.1. Religion and Spirituality:
2.1.1. WHAT? Is there a higher power? This abstract discusses whether or not there is a higher power influencing the world. It also discusses if there is several Gods, or if there is just one. The knowledge of there being a "God" is abstract and the thought that a God created the earth is merely an idea.
2.1.2. WHO? Religion and Spirituality was closely studied by a philosopher by the name of Marilyn McCord Adams. Adams was a Philosopher who studied religion and was a driving force for advocating for same sex marriage, despite the kickback it got from other member of Christianity. She also pushed the question of "what does our God need to do to make our existence great?" opening up the mind for thought about the purpose of God and how a large group of people believe in him to keep evil away.
2.1.3. WHY? Obviously the meaning of life is very subjective and opinion based, but to focus on a large population, which is those who follow a certain religion such as Christianity, it is important to understand that that may be their main reason for life, their main priority. To devote their life to a God, act and make decisions based off of their God, that is what makes them the happiest, and that is their goal for their life, their purpose, and their meaning of life.
2.2. Identity and Change:
2.2.1. WHAT? An identity is the very thing that makes an entity unique. Every living thing has some form of identity, whether it be a name, hair, wings, claws, etc. without an Identity one is not existing as "something" and they are considered nothing. Identity means existence, existence means reality.
2.2.2. WHO? A philosopher by the name of Aristotle closely studied identity and nature and pushed a lot of very important ideas into the light. Aristotle's law of Identity states that everything that exists has a specific nature. This means that each entity that exists has certain characteristics that make it what it is, for example, that human being has brown hair and blue eyes, and stands 6 feet tall.
2.2.3. WHY? Identity is very important to the meaning of life because for some people who struggle with figuring themselves out, whether it be their future, their hobbies, etc. it is very important to those individuals to realize their identity and learn who they are. Despite having all of the characteristics of a human, one may struggle to find out who they are inside, and it may be their meaning of life to figure out who they are, to have an end goal.
2.3. Mind and Matter:
2.3.1. WHAT? The idea of mind and matter is that our thought processes influence reality, in which our way of thinking may effect certain outcomes in our lives. Mind and matter is also the idea that if the mind is mental and not physical, how can it influence the physical world? Meaning if every thought we have remains inside of our head, how can it have any impact on the actual world outside of our brain.
2.3.2. WHO? Descartes was a philosopher who studied the mind theory and is famous for the quote "I think, therefor I am". His theory was that the mind and the body are separate entities, and that the mind is a non physical substance, as apposed to the brain, which is a physical substance.
2.3.3. WHY? To find your identity and where you are in life is certainly one of the most important aspects of ones life, and without knowing who you truly are in your identity, and not knowing what makes you, you, can seem to make life lose meaning. It is very important to understand who you are and by doing so, one can start to understand the meaning to their own life, not just the general topic.
3. Why is There Something, Rather Than Nothing?
3.1. Space and Time:
3.1.1. WHAT? Time and space are mental constructs to organize perceptions, they are essentially unreal. Time exists congruently, meaning it runs parallel with space. Realists believe it exists outside of the human mind, and that any other time outside of the present does not exist.
3.1.2. WHO? Albert Einstein was a big contributing factor in the time and space theory, and he referred to it as "relativity". Einstein's theory was that time and space are linked together, or congruent. Einstein claimed that time slows down or speeds up depending on how fast you move in relative to something else, for example, someone moving on a spaceship would age much slower than someone on earth. Einstein also claimed that the line between the past, present, and the future is an illusion, meaning reality is timeless.
3.1.3. WHY? Space and Time is very relative to the question "why is there something, rather than nothing?" because without either of those things, the earth would not exist. Yes, the past is the past, the future the future, and the present the present, but without the concept of time and the existence of space, none of this would even matter. Putting Einstein's theory of relativity and the true definition of space and time together we see that the two run congruently, and both of them contribute massively to give us this "something".
3.2. Religion and Spirituality:
3.2.1. WHAT? Is there a higher power? This abstract discusses whether or not there is a higher power influencing the world. It also discusses if there is several Gods, or if there is just one. The knowledge of there being a "God" is abstract and the thought that a God created the earth is merely an idea.
3.2.2. WHO? Soren Kierkegaard believed that living a religious life was the highest plane of existence. He also believed that everything was commanded by God(s), meaning the creation of the universe and the earth.
3.2.3. WHY? Religion and spirituality relates to the question because although I personally do not believe in religion, there are many around the world that believe that their God created the universe and the earth as we know it. There are people who believe that the "something" was created by a higher power, and that there would be "nothing" without said higher power.
3.3. Cosmology and Cosmogony
3.3.1. WHAT? Cosmology is the study of the cosmos and the universe, whereas cosmogony is the scientific explanation of how the universe was created. Usually these things go beyond science and question whether the universe has an actual purpose or not.
3.3.2. WHO? Plotinus created the idea or theory that includes three major elements; The One, The Intelligence, and The Soul. These state that there is a higher being (the being among beings) that created the universe.
3.3.3. WHY? Cosmology and Cosmogony relates to the question because it is the study of the universe. My interpretation of the question was that the "something" stands for the Earth/Universe, to elaborate, there is a "something" because of either a higher power, or because the stars arranged in a certain way that created life. If either of those things didn't happen, that's where the "nothing" comes in.
3.4. Existence and Consciousness
3.4.1. WHAT? Consciousness is the idea that we perceive things that exist. Existing 'exists' because there simply is something rather than nothing. Existence comes before consciousness simply because one cannot be conscious without existing first.
3.4.2. WHO? Nagel believes that consciousness and subjective experience cannot be explained through the basic concepts of physics.
3.4.3. WHY? This is relevant to the question because through being conscious, it can open the mind to many ideas on why there is a "something" rather than a "nothing". Although there are many ideas surrounding the existence of our universe and earth, without them, we wouldn't be able to ponder about these things, as we wouldn't be conscious to begin with.