There is no Vacuum or Empty Space

16. A space that has absolutely nothing (void) is repugnant to reason

The philosophical void is a space where there is no substance . It does not exist since the extension of space or internal place is not different from that of body.

The philosophical vacuum is a space where there is no substance. It does not exist since the extension of space or internal place is not different from that of body.

Since a body has extension in length, width, and height, it follows that it is a substance.

It is absolutely contradictory that nothing should possess extension. And so we should form a similar inference regarding the space which is supposed void, viz., that since there is extension in it there is necessarily also substance.

17. A vacuum in the ordinary use of the term does not exclude all body

The common ‘vacuum’ does not mean a place or space in which there is absolutely nothing.

It means a place in which there is none of those things which we presume should be there.

A pitcher is made to hold water.

• It is said to be empty when it is merely filled with air.

A fish-pond is meant to hold fish.

• It has nothing if there are no fish in it although it is full of water.

Thus, a vessel is said to be empty when, in place of the merchandise which it was designed to carry, it is loaded with sand only, to enable it to resist the violence of the wind.

Finally, it is in the same sense that we say space is void when it contains nothing sensible, although it contain created and self-subsisting matter. For we are not in the habit of considering the bodies near us, unless in so far as they cause in our organs of sense, impressions strong enough to enable us to perceive them.

We are wrong to say that a pitcher that only has air is empty, because it makes us regard air as not being a substance (RES SUBSISTENS).

In the same way, we are wrong if we say that a common vacuum has nothing, or is empty.

18. How the prejudice of an absolute vacuum is to be corrected.

We have almost all fallen into this error from the earliest age.

We observe that there is no necessary connection between a vessel and its contents.

This makes us think that God can remove its contents without replacing what was removed.

In truth, there is no connection between the vessel and its contents.

But there is an absolutely necessary connection between:

• the vessel’s concave shape, and
• the general extension [metaphysical space] in that cavity.

A mountain has a valley just as a cavity has extension [metaphysical space].

• The extension [metaphysical space] has extended substance [metaphysical aether]

If God removed all the space from inside a vessel, then its sides would collapse inward.

This is because 2 bodies must touch each other when there is nothing between them.

For all distance is a mode of extension [metaphysical space], and cannot therefore exist without an extended substance [metaphysical aether].