An Essay on Nothing by Sophia Gottfried

Introduction

• Ontology, the study of being, often focuses on existence.
• Less often examined is non-existence or nothingness.

Impact of Non-Existence

• Non-existence can affect us in various ways, such as:
  • Death as the lack of existence (unless one believes in ghosts).
  • Absence of people, objects, or knowledge.
• Raises questions about how non-existent things influence our lives.

Concept of Emptiness

• When opening an empty box:
  • Not literally devoid of being (contains air, light, dust).
  • "Empty" based on expectations (boxes are meant to contain things).
• Example: Different expectations for a chair vs. a blender.

Perceptive Nothingness

• Defined as a negation of expectation.
• Pain from absence due to expected presence.
• Cultural influences shape our expectations (e.g., nuclear family concept).

Pure Nothingness

• Completely devoid of anything (no air, light, dust).
• Cannot be experienced by senses, only conceived by the mind.
• Raises philosophical questions about existence and the universe's origin.
• Cannot exist by definition since existence implies something.

Philosophical Questions

• Is absolute nothing possible?
  • Nothingness requires something to define it.
  • Pure nothingness is a negation dependent on being.

Space and Nothingness

• Can space contain nothing?
• If space exists, it's not nothing.
• Space and time could exist without matter.

Encountering Nothingness

• Future scientific discoveries (e.g., black holes, pure vacuums) may force us to confront nothingness.
• Entering nothingness could fill or destroy it.

Death and the Ultimate Void

• Death as an ultimate void, making people uneasy.
• All existence reduced to absence felt by loved ones.
• Over time, even absence will be forgotten.

Conclusion

• Engaging with questions about nothingness is important despite their bleakness.
• Nothingness permeates existence and understanding it is key to understanding existence itself.

Author

• Sophia Gottfried is the philosophy club president at the Harker School in San Jose.