What is nothing?

AlmightyCushion · 04-08-2007 7:41pm

It's the contents of my wallet.

Sonnenblumen · 12-08-2007 8:23pm

Tim Robbins wrote:

"Nothing" can't just mean something you can't see.

Please expand how you differentiate between something which is not visible and "nothing".

biko · 13-08-2007 6:12pm

As been pointed out - nothing is the absence of something. It does exist but as a human construct, for instance zero had to be invented in maths.

Lucas10101 · 14-08-2007 6:33pm

Look up Dictionary.com, it's a great help.

Only joking.

It's quite a simple question:
Nothing is:

(i) If a table was clear with no apparatus on it, we could say "There is nothing on the table", referring to that particular piece.

(ii) In Science, Nothing can exist in Zero,as it occupies no function ( You know what I mean ). i.e as suggested above, a Human Construct.

(iii) We cannot speculate about nothing outside the Universe, we need only concern what we know. So the use of Nothing here is invalid use of the word.

(iv) Nothing is a feeling of expression: i.e " He was given Morphine and feels nothing", it's also considered a Figure of Speech.

So that's what Nothing is. Nothing is a word like many others, and like many others, has multiple meanings among different subjects and people. There is nothing more to say on the matter.

Sonnenblumen · 14-08-2007 11:08pm

......ah yes, and what about "nothing makes sense"?

Leonitos · 16-08-2007 9:45am

Tim Robbins wrote:

Can this question be answered: What is nothing?

In Science, we are limited by what we know about at a micro level.
For example, what is inside a quark? I don't know. So if I don't know what is inside a quark, how do I know if whatever is not inside a quark is not there?

Is "nothing" a human construct? Is it just a derivative of not knowing what we sense or cannot sense? Or does it exist.
Your comments and opinons...

Does a bear sh t in the woods????

Tim Robbins · 17-08-2007 5:22pm

Sonnenblumen wrote:

Please expand how you differentiate between something which is not visible and "nothing".

We can't see inside an electron but we can use theories to deduce something is inside it.

Sonnenblumen · 17-08-2007 6:39pm

Tim Robbins wrote:

We can't see inside an electron but we can use theories to deduce something is inside it.

splitting the atom is probably much closer to the science forum and certainly not philosophical, but given that the electron is more likely a negative but nonetheless a charged particle it is far from nothing. Also visibility is not limited to human vision, if it can be seen, it is there.

But if nothing is there how do we know, if nothing or something is present?

18AD · 21-08-2007 12:00pm

What is outside our universe? Nothing. Nothing isn't even there. Nothing isn't present. There is nowhere to have nothing there (which isn't an existing place).

projectmayhem · 21-08-2007 12:02pm

nothing is the absense of everything.

with that in mind, "nothing" then exists as a state in which there is a void of everything...

18AD · 21-08-2007 12:09pm

But how does a void of everything exist? Surely there is now way it can be present in any sense of existing. Not that I'm saying that nothing isn't happening somewhere, but that nothing is not a thing that can be.

Once you define it as nothing it becomes something ie. nothing, and the meaning of the word has been lost.

projectmayhem · 21-08-2007 2:40pm

18AD wrote:

But how does a void of everything exist? Surely there is now way it can be present in any sense of existing. Not that I'm saying that nothing isn't happening somewhere, but that nothing is not a thing that can be.

Once you define it as nothing it becomes something ie. nothing, and the meaning of the word has been lost.

lets say the void of everything is simply a void because it hasn't been filled, therefore meaning it is something...

i'm saying this because by our own definitions (sort of), things outside of the universe don't exist, and therefore are nothing, but the universe is expanding, so that "nothing" is becoming something, so is it not right to think of "nothing" as a potential something?

18AD · 21-08-2007 4:41pm

projectmayhem wrote:

lets say the void of everything is simply a void because it hasn't been filled, therefore meaning it is something...

i'm saying this because by our own definitions (sort of), things outside of the universe don't exist, and therefore are nothing, but the universe is expanding, so that "nothing" is becoming something, so is it not right to think of "nothing" as a potential something?

I see what you mean. It's a tricky concept, I think mainly due to the nature of the word nothing. Labelling something with the word nothing means you are refering to something. Also grammar in general seems to ruin the word. That's nothing, it's nothing, nothing there. You always have to refer to somthing whereas I see the true nature of the word nothing to refer to nothing.
The 'outside the universe' reference is interesting because you see that first you have to refer to the universe (something) to describe the concept (nothing).

Nothing becoming something is a nice idea. Nothing as something's potential. It deserves some further thought...

Take care.
I'll get back to this later...

Sonnenblumen · 21-08-2007 10:55pm

Nothing = an indefinable momentary aspect within the continuom realisation of something?

God Cider is Sweet:D

FionnMatthew · 24-08-2007 1:24am

Lucas10101 wrote:

Look up Dictionary.com, it's a great help.

Only joking.

It's quite a simple question:
Nothing is:

(i) If a table was clear with no ap....

You almost had it there.

With:

Nothing is:

rocsolid · 06-09-2007 10:50am

the word nothing is a conglomeration of two words "no" "thing"
ergo nothing can be percieved but only in a subjective manner. you walk into a room and you look for something, there is nothing in the room, you have experienced the concept of nothing. when your housemate eats the last slice of bread he offers you the ability to do it again. it simply means an area where there is no thing to be percieved, a prerequisit of understanding it is to have a concept of something.
think in terms of polarity, to understand nothing in a philosophical sense you must be able to percieve everything, understand a chair and you will inherantly understand its absence.

Rosita · 06-09-2007 12:28pm

The last reply would get very close to my understanding of nothing i.e. that it is essentially the opposite of "something/anything". I suppose you could say it is a linguistic construction to describe the view that there is not a physical manifestation of "something/anything" existing. "Something" meaning a random (not specifically described) physcially discernible entity, with nothing being the opposite.

I think we can certainly say that "nothing" exists in the sense that we understand the word and what it means in various contexts. But I would say it is defined always in relation to something else.

So what is "nothing"? Maybe the Oxford English Dictionary has it when it says "not anything".

lovewellbeing · 07-09-2007 11:47am

I think we can certainly say that "nothing" exists in the sense that we understand the word and what it means in various contexts. But I would say it is defined always in relation to something else.

So what is "nothing"? Maybe the Oxford English Dictionary has it when it says "not anything".[/QUOTE]

In the buddhist tradition, nothingness refers to the supporting principle or energy that is the basis of all life. The meaning is really "fullness", and emptiness or nothingness is the fundamental ground, or root of all existence. That is, nothingness is the fullness of everything, including the 'space' that contains all things. Due to a lack of an adequate word for describing this 'space', nothingness or voidness is used to describe the abiding principle that is the source of life and manifestation. It is also called conciousness, unseen, yet abiding everywhere, within all things, and also in the space that contains everything. The quality of conciousness is pure awareness, and we as beings are included in this, and also an inseparable part of it. Without it we couldn't exist, in any form. The support for our form is formlessness, nothingness, pure conciousness, and it is also what we are fundamentally.
Our subjective experience is a natural creative outpouring of pure awareness / pure spaciousness.

Because we as beings are a part of this principle, and not separate from it, it can be frustrating trying to understand this nothingness objectively as something outside or separate from ourselves.

It is already who we are.

Latchy · 28-09-2007 6:48pm

Nothing going on in here tonight ...i will look in again

di11on · 01-10-2007 5:06pm

When you think about it - this is essentially the same as the "is black a colour" argument. Technically, black isn't a colour, because it is what results when no light is refected from a surface. But that in itself is a recognisable state, which in itself is something...a colour.

As long as we inhabit a system within which there are things, the concept of true nothingness is elusive. There would certainly be no-one around to appreciate the fact that there is nothing... since there would be nothing. We can only really apply the concept in a limited sense, limited to a particular context. "There is nothing in the room" So, we are limiting the system in this instance, to the tangible things within the room, which is well defined because we are outside of that system. Therefore, we can only apply the concept of nothing to defined subsystems of the system which we are a part of.

Since nothing is a concept defined by humans, absolute nothing would be the absense of us.

18AD · 01-10-2007 6:17pm

If nothing is defined as 'not anything/not a thing' then would that not mean that it is everywhere?

ie. 'if you have a table covered in stuff' by non-existing characters Quentin and Anton...
Q: Is nothing on the table?
A: No
Q: Why?
A: Because there's a hat on it.
Q: But that's not nothing. Stop looking at the hat?
A: Nothing isn't there.
Q: Just because you can't see it or do a test for it or touch it doesn't mean it's not there. It's nothing.
A: Aha. That makes perfect sense...:rolleyes:

*ahem*

This is more frivolous creativity than philosophy. Anyhow. I think it makes some sense.

All the best.
AD.

bogwalrus · 02-10-2007 2:27am

Asking the Question "what is Nothing?" is a great way of getting the mind working when trying to think about hard philosophies.

As someone mentioned already the idea of nothing is like the idea of Infinity. Infinity can mean nothing has a start and an end. You can say that about the universe. It's just that our mind can somewhat comprehend a thing that never ends because we can somewhat associate it with our sight i.e (we can see into the horizon and know that there is something farther away).

It's much harder with Nothing because our sight (through use of apparatus) will not allow us to see the smallest particles of matter. To think that nothing is there (in the science sense of things) is a bit crazy though, we have to be constituted of something be it Vibrations of energy (string theory) or whatever other theories are around. The only other time i can think of using "Nothing" is when describing what is outside our universe, but once again you could also say the Universe is infinite.

"Nothing can travel faster then the speed of light"?

If this is so then there has to be light photons/radiation all over our Universe even at the farthest edges.

A Black hole could be a good description of nothing-it sucks light,gravity, matter in until it is nothing, a singularity?