A philosophical discussion?

Question

i just wanted to raise the topic of nothing.

how do you define nothing?

(and please dont say; "its the absence of something" because that is something in itself)

so, how do you describe nothing?

Answer 1

I think nothing is the illusion of something and most things not universally shared/recognized (innate) are illusions...nothing.  

Answer 2

sometimes it can be black sometimes white or any colour of your choice

to describe nothing i'd stick my arms out and shrug  

Answer 3

Nothing (no thing) is indeed the absence of something (some thing)... It can be a relative absence, as when you look in the fridge and find "nothing" there; or it can be an absolute absence -- the absence of *any* thing. Absence is not a thing, by the way; even though "absence" is a word (note the quotation marks). Presence is not a thing, either: that which is present is a thing. For instance, your keyboard is present, and is a thing, but the presence of your keyboard is not present, is not a thing.

Likewise, the relatively absent is a thing. For instance, if there is no food in your fridge, there probably is some someplace else. But the absolutely absent is not a thing, as the "thing" that is absolutely absent is absent *everywhere*, is present *nowhere*. Only that which is present somewhere is a thing.

As for your actual question: it's meaningless, as to describe nothing is to not describe at all.

P.S.: The same that goes for the absent also goes for the present: only the *relatively* present -- that which is present somewhere, but not everywhere -- is a "thing"; the *absolutely* present -- that which is present *everywhere* -- is no "thing", in the usual sense of the word. Let me put it differently:

The "Nothing" is absolutely nonexistent. The All is absolutely existent -- is the only true "thing". Everything in between only has relative existence, has relative unity and duration, is only relatively a thing. The All of course has absolute unity, as there is nothing that is no part of it, nothing to divide it from itself. And it has absolute duration, because logically, it cannot have come from nothing nor can it vanish into nothingness.

Answer 4

I have stared into the void, until the void stared back.

Now I know nothing.  

So if you are willing to learn nothing, I will teach you nothing.

Existence is composed of only ONE thing:  

Energy-Space-Time (EST) and NOTHING.

So why is this ONE thing?  Because Nothing is "NO-THING".

A Thing is some form of EST.  Existence is some form of EST.

You might label nothing, but techinically you can not define it, because defining is creating  a boundry that seperates one 'thing' from another.

You can't measure Nothing.   It's meaningless to say "Nothing goes on forever" because Nothing doesn't  start &  doesn't  go &  has no time or space,  so forever doesn't apply.

Nature is a description of things.  Nothing is NO-THING so it does not have a nature.  

You cannot be logical about Nothing, because Logic is how one Thing affects another Thing.

The question "What is nothing?" means nothing.     Because "is" is about things.

Something cannot 'come' from nothing.   There is Nothing to come from.

Nothing cannot consume.   There is Nothing to go to.   You cannot alter the constitution of Nothing because it has no constitution.

Strange as it may seem, infinity is ONLY about things.  

What would it mean to be alone in infinite space?   It means if we called some Thing a yardstick, that we could lay an infinite number of yardsticks down without ever running into another thing.  

But that wouldn't mean we were surrounded by nothing.  Because Nothing can't surround.

It's like calling Black a color.   Convenient, but inaccurate.  Black is the absence of color.  Black is No-Color.     You aren't surrounded by Nothing, there are simply No Things around you.  You cannot give something a Black color.  You can only stop a thing from having any color.

And now, you know Nothing.  

Answer 5

.

Answer 6

Nothing is emptiness.The absence of everything that you wanted to it.

Answer 7

This is a word , coined in the realms of the material world, which is full of 'things'.  When you fine no thing at all you start to call that 'nothing'. But  such coiners of this word had limited access to things , material or immaterial,  could not have seen beyond a thing.

Take even a human being. The physical body  is the only  thing that we are able to see . But , it is kown that the body is covered by four other sheaths, not visible. So, shall we say there is'nothing' beyond the physical body?  No. we cannot.

I would say ,  the word 'nothing' can only relate to limited material world.

Answer 8

Dimensionless

Means there is no space nor time.

Since it is dimensionless, it can not be defined..... in order to define we need to draw boundaries around it, and boundaries can exist only in some dimension.

Answer 9

-                     -

(nothing is the blank space...

And yet IT IS the blank space, which by definition exists.)

nothingness can be looked upon as a deviation from oblivion!!

„„  

Answer 10

Something that isn't at the place you're looking or thinking of

Answer 11

I do not think there is (nothing) any where and like you said the abscence of thin is another thing; like the abscence of light is darkness,, darkness is a thing.

Answer 12

There is no context by definition.

It is therefor the essence of nondescript, the absence of being.

Answer 13

nothing can be defined. everything defined was defined by man. when it all boils down, you cannot define anything.

besides, the english language is flawed.  

Answer 14

dont describe anything

Answer 15

In Hindu philosophy it is called 'Shunya' i.e. Zero.It is thoughtlessness both external and internal.You are not even aware of the body.It can be compared to a sound sleep, but through stopping of all thoughts by the practicioner.