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nothingness

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nothingness

Nonbeing. The concept is much used in existentialism, as in the title of Jean-Paul Sartre's work L'Etre et le néant/Being and Nothingness 1943.

In logic, it is an error to assume that every subject of a grammatical sentence is the name of a thing. So when ‘nothingness’ is used as the subject of a grammatical sentence, it must not be assumed that ‘nothingness’ is itself a thing, or the name of anything.

Some philosophers think that the problem of why something, rather than nothing, exists is the deepest metaphysical conundrum, whereas others consider it irrelevant.

In Buddhism, nothingness is the essence of enlightenment.



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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
And it occurs to no one that to admit a greatness not commensurable with the standard of right and wrong is merely to admit one's own nothingness and immeasurable meanness.
War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo View in context
Four times he had his hands on that rich treasure and four times it wasted to nothingness in his fingers as sleep for- sook him and wakefulness brought back the hard reality of his misfortune.
Tom Sawyer by Twain, Mark View in context
The whale, therefore, must see one distinct picture on this side, and another distinct picture on that side; while all between must be profound darkness and nothingness to him.
Moby Dick LXVIII-CXXXIV by Melville, Herman View in context
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