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In a 1998 essay (posted in two parts here and here), which you are free to read or ignore, the author (Derek Parfit) delves as deeply as he is able into the question of why the universe exists– of why anything exists; why there is something rather than nothing. Without any disrespect toward the author, reading it is a bit like watching a dog chase its own tail. Parfit carefully holds himself to rigorously logical thinking throughout, but he just can’t get the outside perspective on the universe that would be needed in order to see why it is here. He’s like a man at the bottom of a well shaft, wondering about the solid dirt ground and the smooth round walls, and the high, open ceiling. Having no knowledge of the surface world, he will never guess that someone once dug this shaft for water. The fact that there are such things as telephones and cities and chocolate truffles is completely outside his knowledge and beyond his imagination. Continue reading →