Well, the why not something won't work. If he doesn't see the problem identifying negation with absence, then he won't grok the significance of the "not" there. He's a philosopher, but not trained in any formal logic. He's more from the literary tradition. Of course, logically inclined people get confused, too. The idea that Pv¬P has some correlate in the world out there is patently ridiculous ... but relied upon by the logic types. So the tightrope I have to walk is to be only as formal as necessary to get him to admit that *some* of these answers have *some* merit. His convictions demonstrate his convict status.
On 12/29/21 16:02, Eric Charles wrote:
That all seems right to me. We could even imagine that there is only one universe, and it is normally nothing, but that, during very short windows within the time when it isn't, sometimes sentient life springs up and asks silly questions. Have you tried countering with "Why NOT something?"
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