I was asked/challenged this question “How is something created from nothing?“. To analyze this while thinking critically we have to dissect the syntax and structure of the question, define the subjects, and logically structure a conclusion. When I was asked this question there was no pre-text for the question. I do not know if this is in reference or context to a religion or a god. Nevertheless we can still analyze and dissect the question logically and critically.

Logical Absolutes and Subjects

We have two subjects in this question, ‘something’ and ‘nothing’. Something can be logically defined as anything that conforms to the Law of Identity. The Law of Identity states that a thing is what it is and it is not what it is not, a horse is a horse and it’s not not a horse. In this subject we are using ‘something’ and this pretty much opens wide anything that conforms to the Law of Identity. So we could restructure the question as “How is a Horse created from nothing? or “How is a rock created from nothing?”.

The next subject is ‘nothing’. This is not going to be as ambiguous as the other subject. Nothing is pretty specific, nothing cannot be something, nothing is bound by the law of excluded middle. There is no half nothing, a thing is either something or it is nothing (not existing). Nothing might be interpreted here as existence, something either exists or it does not, if it does not exist then it is ‘nothing’.

The word “how” is a request of procedure. This word indicates the requester wishes to know how the subjects are interacting. “How” is asking for a definition of process.

“Created” means to cause something to come into existence. To pull the above subject “something” with “created” we come to understand these two words are meant to mean “existence”.

Conclusion: False Premise

The question could be restated “What is the process by which existence comes from non existence?”

The logical response when critically analyzed is a rejection of the premise that existence does come from non-existence. This is what is called a false premise. It has not been proven that existence comes from non existence. We do not know if existence can or did come from non-existence.