Proposal of Creatio ex Pleno:
Nothing, Naming, and the Genesis of Reality
Keywords:
Scientific Philosophy, Philosopy, creation ex nihilo, Technology, the point of technological singularity, Socrates, Plato, Big Bang theoryAbstract
My paper advances the Proposal of Creatio ex Pleno—creation out of fullness—as an alternative to the traditional creatio ex nihilo (“creation out of nothing”) and creatio ex materia (“creation out of matter”). In this model, “nothing” is not absence but the undifferentiated fullness—structured potential—from which all distinctions arise. One might picture it as a block of marble containing every possible sculpture, though none yet revealed: all forms latent, none yet chosen.
Drawing from theology, philosophy, physics, linguistics, and cognitive science, it reframes “nothing” as the pre-named totality that underlies being, thought, and perception.
In the Hebrew Genesis narrative, creation begins not ex nihilo but through the ordering of pre-existent waters (tehom) by naming (King 1902). In Plato’s dialogues, Socrates’ declaration “I know nothing” mirrors this stance, reflecting direct acquaintance with pre-conceptual reality (Plato 2000). Modern physics reveals the vacuum as a field of latent energy (Davies 2006; Krauss 2012); linguistics shows that naming shapes perception (Whorf 1956); neuroscience confirms that awareness precedes categorization (McGilchrist 2009). True wisdom lies in sustained recognition of this inexhaustible whole—knowing “nothing” as the deepest form of knowledge.
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