Abstract

This does not directly answer the “why” question, but the fact that it doesn’t allows for this volume’s central point: the question itself is meaningless. Meaning is found in our dealings with the physical universe and takes the form of language. It is the use of language—grammar—which provides the philosophical standard for ruling a question meaningful or meaningless. Language cannot, then, be meaningful if extended beyond the physical universe: to God, for example, or even to the material world itself taken as a whole. Hence the “why” question is misconceived as is its demand for an answer. There is nothing to explain.