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Zuryn
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What is nothingness?
Not much, really.Zuryn said:What is nothingness?
Zuryn said:What is nothingness?
Rocko said:my idea of nothingness I can only imagine being as what was before the universe began, cause now what we really have is everythingness.
arildno said:I've no problem with a notion of "nothingness" in a modified form, namely:
"Something that cannot be (directly) perceived (but which might have calculable, measurable effects)"
hypnagogue said:Nothingness is just that. Nothing. No-thing. Not anything. It's a conceptual mistake to reify nothingness and ask what it is, because there is literally nothing to talk about.
Think of it this way. Words in a language act like pointers to objects or concepts. We can think of the word 'cat' as an arrow that points to some abstract concept of cat-ness, and we can think of the word 'Tammy' as an arrow pointing to the actual cat owned by Jane. We can discuss the words 'cat' and 'Tammy' in a sensical fashion because when we talk about these words, our discussion is about the things that the words point to. There is conceptual 'stuff' pointed to by the words that acts as a 'receiver' of our descriptions, questions, desires, etc. of these words.
Now take the word 'nothing.' We can visualize this word as an arrow or signpost, just as we could 'cat' and 'Tammy.' But consider that for 'nothing,' the arrow is not pointing to anything; there is no conceptual 'stuff' to receive any predicates; there is not anything that the word is about. As such, it's quite literally meaningless to talk about nothingness as if it were an actual object that can be talked about itself (such as asking, 'What is nothingness?'). Indeed, the function of the word 'nothing' in language is just to denote the absence of anything to talk about in the first place.
Nothingness is a philosophical concept that refers to the absence of anything. It is often described as the absence of matter, energy, space, or time.
This is a subject of debate among philosophers. Some argue that nothingness is solely an abstract concept, while others argue that it can also have physical implications.
No, nothingness cannot be experienced in the traditional sense as it is the absence of any experience. However, some argue that certain meditative or contemplative states may induce a sense of nothingness.
Again, this is a subject of philosophical debate. Some argue that nothingness has no inherent purpose or meaning, while others believe that it can be a source of creativity and potentiality.
The concept of nothingness challenges our understanding of what exists and what does not exist. It also raises questions about the nature of existence and consciousness. Some argue that nothingness is necessary for the existence of something, as something cannot exist without the absence of something else.