Phemister, Pauline

McCarthy, Evan

2025-02-24T12:19:57Z

2025-02-24T12:19:57Z

2024-07-12

The principle of creatio ex nihilo is commonly predicated on the conception of ‘nothing’ as the absence of matter and reality, but this axiomatic presupposition about ‘nothing’ conflates ‘the absence of matter’ and ‘the absence of reality,’ A distinction between these is drawn to establish that in the absence of matter there is still an ontologically real logic-space; the necessity for which is established by examining O’Connnor’s three ways to an ultimate explanation, and supported by analyzing mathematical parameters required to define physical systems in cosmology. Equating this logic-space with Leibniz’s realm of ideas in the mind of God, a settheoretic interpretation of Leibniz’s ontology is then developed which depicts a cosmology whereby the universe is allowed to subsist as a logico-mathematical Leibnizian possible-relationspace (the logic-space). The universe is then modeled as a set (called the Null Set) in that logicspace, containing all the possible-relations from which the universe is subsequently created. Creatio ex nihilo is then not creation from ‘nothing’ per se, but rather creation from an ontologically real set which, although physically identical to ‘nothing,’ contains all the possible relations and entities required to define a physical universe.

https://hdl.handle.net/1842/43139

en

The University of Edinburgh

Creatio ex nihilo

Leibniz

Cosmology

Creatio ex nihilo as the basis for a set-theoretic cosmology

Thesis or Dissertation

Masters

MSc Master of Science