On NPR there was a report something to the effect of science considering what existed before the "Big Bang." In fact, from a linked article from the NPR web page Marcelo Gleiser asserts, "The big bang model asserts that observational evidence is consistent with a universe that originated from a dense and hot initial state some 13.7 billion years ago and that it has been expanding and cooling ever since. It's important to understand that this claim is not a "belief"; it's based on solid pieces of evidence."

Chuang Tzu addressed this issue some 3,200 years ago: "if there was a beginning, the there was a time before such a beginning, and thus a time before the time of the beginning." *

"If there is existence, there must also be non-existence, and if there was a time before existence, then there must have been a time before the time of non-existence. So when non-existence came into existence, would it have belonged to the category of existence or that of non-existence? I (Chuang Tzu) do not even know whether the word I have just spoken have actually been spoken or not. The existence of all contraries is man-made." (Teachings of Chuang Tzu, By Taoist Master Ni, Hua-Ching, P. 308)

In other words, philosophy / intellect - analytic and synthetic can recognize the questions but cannot provide the answer. But this does not mean there is not an answer, it just does not fall within the realm of reason. Wu!