A Rational Cosmology: Why the Universe Has No Finite Age nor Any Age Whatsoever

Essay LXVI

This is Essay LXVI of Mr. Stolyarov's series, "A Rational Cosmology," which seeks to present objective, absolute, rationally grounded views of terms such as universe, matter, volume, space, time, motion, sound, light, forces, fields, and even the higher-order concepts of life, consciousness, and volition. See the index of all the essays in "A Rational Cosmology" here.

It is often said that if any entity must have a finite age, then the universe must also have originated at some point in time. This is a mistaken view, as an analysis of what is meant by the term "universe" can show.

It is true that any entity must have a finite age at any point in time. The mistake here, however, is quite simple: the universe is not an entity! It is a mere collection of everything that exists.

The purpose of the term "universe" is to serve as intellectual shorthand that substitutes listing every single existent when one wishes to speak of universal principles that are applicable to everything (such as the axioms of existence and identity). The term "universe" is not in itself a legitimate concept. If the sum of Chicago, Quasimodo, a telescope, and a hippopotamus cannot be a legitimate concept, how can the sum of Chicago, Quasimodo, a telescope, a hippopotamus, and everything else be a legitimate concept?

If one were to say that Chicago, Quasimodo, a telescope, and a hippopotamus had a certain single origin in time, the statement would evidently be ludicrous, from any perspective. The more expansive such a statement becomes, however, the more reverence is given to it in contemporary academia! Rationally, though, it must be all the more ludicrous for it.

There is no such one thing as "everything," nor even "the potentiality of everything." If there is no such one thing, it cannot have a single origin in time. (It cannot, per se, have any quality, not being a single thing!)