Can something come from nothing? I dunno, I only have experiences of things coming from other things. But that's just my limited experience, which alone is not a very good basis for making grand metaphysical claims. "Ex nihilo nihil fit" ("out of nothing, nothing comes") is superficially, at least, simple and obvious. We don't see this happening, but that says nothing about if it can happen.
But really, this question has many issues with it beyond just that. The question really comes down to this: Is the Principle of Sufficient Reason an ontological truth? In other words, must everything have a reason or cause for its existence, either in the necessity of its own nature or in an external cause? I would tend to say no, because that seems to be question-begging. After all, is there a reason or cause for why everything must have a reason or cause? If not, the principle is self-refuting, among other things, because it's just a brute fact. There's seems to be no contradiction in saying "X happened/is the case without a cause or reason", as brute facts exist in all worldviews. And contra-William Lane Craig, this does not then make it inexplicable why things don't constantly come into existence ex nihilo, because this is just another example of asserting the PSR in a question-begging manner. If you're going to say that the reason things aren't constantly popping into existence is because things have reasons or caises for their existence, then you're begging the vety question at hand because you're saying the reason for that is the PSR. In other words, you're saying "The reason things don't pop into existence from nothing is because of the PSR!"
Dammit, I ranted.
But really, this question has many issues with it beyond just that. The question really comes down to this: Is the Principle of Sufficient Reason an ontological truth? In other words, must everything have a reason or cause for its existence, either in the necessity of its own nature or in an external cause? I would tend to say no, because that seems to be question-begging. After all, is there a reason or cause for why everything must have a reason or cause? If not, the principle is self-refuting, among other things, because it's just a brute fact. There's seems to be no contradiction in saying "X happened/is the case without a cause or reason", as brute facts exist in all worldviews. And contra-William Lane Craig, this does not then make it inexplicable why things don't constantly come into existence ex nihilo, because this is just another example of asserting the PSR in a question-begging manner. If you're going to say that the reason things aren't constantly popping into existence is because things have reasons or caises for their existence, then you're begging the vety question at hand because you're saying the reason for that is the PSR. In other words, you're saying "The reason things don't pop into existence from nothing is because of the PSR!"
Dammit, I ranted.
