›Cur potius aliquid quam nihil‹ von der Frühgeschichte bis zur Hochscholastik

Inspired by various research results on the history of philosophy that have not yet been compiled, the paper pursues the thesis that the question "Why is there something rather than nothing" was formulated long before Leibniz. In reviewing this thesis, the 'fundamental question' is differentiated into two individual questions: "Why is there something at all" and 'Why isn't rather nothing?". On the basis of this systematic distinction, the paper examines the history of philosophy from early history to scholasticism with regard to the occurrence of the above mentioned individual questions and their connection to the fundamental question.