Some people wonder whether this question, which Leibniz termed the “Primordial Existential Question”, is actually meaningful. Or whether it may in fact be a non-starter. For his part Parmenides asked it nonetheless, concluding that “nothingness” or “non-being” was impossible and that therefore things must have always existed. (Parmenides thus avoids an infinite regress). According to Parmenides, no first cause for either matter or motion is possible, and so if something exists at any time at all, it will have existed always, and will continue to exist unchangingly for eternity.

There are physicists who believe that a response is possible to this question, whether that is to explain why/how something can come from nothing; or that something has always existed.

Please write your views on this question, perhaps also indicating the following

• Is it meaningful?
• Can it be definitively answered one day?
• What are the philosophical implications in the case of it being answered; and in the case of it not being answered?
• Any suggestions for an answer, however outlandish?