# Why there is something rather than nothing

- kind: problem
- status: open
- year: 1714
- authors: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

**Statement.** Why does anything exist at all?

Physics can describe how a universe evolves from an initial state, and even how a quantum state might arise from 'nothing'. Each such answer assumes laws and a framework that exist already. It may be the only question on this map that could have no answer.

Posed 1714, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

## Sources

- [Wikipedia: Why is there anything at all?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_is_there_anything_at_all%3F)

[Being and self](/wiki/Space:metaphysics.md) · [Philosophy](/wiki/Continent:philosophy.md)

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