Atheism and Theism JJ Haldane - Common Sense Atheism

32 J.J.C. Smart
ethical principle at the back of the universe. Still, Leslie’s hypothesis cannot
altogether be ruled out by these considerations, and I shall have another
(brief ) look at it at the end of the next section. There the prime focus will not
be on design (‘Why is the universe as it is?’) but on existence (‘Why is there
anything at all?’).
8 The Argument from Contingency
Why, then, is there anything at all? After all, a null universe is the simplest
hypothesis. Of course there is a pragmatic paradox in so far as we assert or
even entertain the null hypothesis. We must exist in order to assert or entertain
the hypothesis and the proposition that the universe is null has to exist in
order to be asserted or entertained. Nevertheless the paradox is pragmatic
only, and logic does not rule out the empty universe, except for a technicality.
In classical first order logic the valid schemata are defined as those that come
out true in any non-empty universe. This is for technical convenience, and
testing for validity in the empty universe can be done separately, easily
and mechanically. 56
Given that the null universe would be the simplest possible, is it not
a matter for great awe that there is anything at all, let alone our vast and
complex universe? Despite the fact that I am repelled by Heidegger’s style of
philosophical writing, there is nevertheless one respect in which I have
a sneaking fellow feeling with him. This is his propensity to ask why there is
anything at all. 57 Wittgenstein also experienced this amazement that anything
should exist at all. 58 In his Tractatus 59 he said, ‘It is not how things are in the
world that is mystical, but that it exists’ (6.44). Admittedly Wittgenstein
seems to contradict himself in his next proposition 6.45 where he talks of the
mystical as seeing the world as a limited whole, which is surely a matter of
how it is, rather than that it is. No doubt there are grades of mysticality!
One way in which the question ‘Why is there anything at all?’ is quintessentially
mystical is that it apparently has no possibility of an answer. Whatever
answered it would have to be something in the world, or else something
other than the world, and the question would just reappear over the existence
of that other entity. However, we must not go too fast in ruling out all
possibility of an answer. Some have sought the answer in the concept of
a being whose existence is necessary. I shall conclude that indeed no answer on
these lines is satisfactory, but nevertheless it is far from my purpose to dissuade
anyone, including myself, from asking the unanswerable question.
I do think that there is something ultimately mysterious in the fact that the
universe exists at all, and that there is something wrong with us if we do not
feel this mystery.