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When is an absence a nothingness, completely nothing? I've read all of Heidegger's basic writings, a handful of commentaries on him and lots on Buddhism. Both these topics talk a lot about "nothing" but I am still confused by it.

When we misplace a box with nothing at all inside we haven't really lost its contents.

Does this tell us anything about nothingness? I suspect it may mean real nothingness only occurs inside things that exist. Am I crazy?

  • There is no "nothingness"; thus, we can "perceive" its absence. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Nov 28 '21 at 12:22
  • That's definitely one answer @MauroALLEGRANZA The eye is absent form vision and that is not perceived, right? Does that mean its absence is inconceivable and the eye is an "essence" of vision? –  Nov 28 '21 at 13:32
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    When there is an expectation of something. Nothingess is a gap in the Being (or in the identity) which somehow suddenly isn't quite in full here. https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/a/45193/28067 – ttnphns Nov 28 '21 at 17:07
  • tidy, thanks @ttnphns I wonder if that includes all species of forethought. –  Nov 28 '21 at 17:57
  • When it is not put into a relation to something existent, like continuous backgrounds for holes and rooms for missing elephants. Otherwise, absences are simply a roundabout way of talking about existents, just like hypostatic abstractions are, in a different way. What scholastics called [*ens rationis*](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/reism/#BrenReis), a being of reason, "a thing dependent for its existence upon reason or thought". – Conifold Nov 29 '21 at 03:10
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    Does this answer your question? [What is the role of mental images in the perception of absence?](https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/85918/what-is-the-role-of-mental-images-in-the-perception-of-absence) – Swami Vishwananda Nov 29 '21 at 06:51
  • I thought 'discussion' is contrasted with 'Q&A' not whether or not we list everything salient we've ever read about a topic @tkruse –  Nov 29 '21 at 14:29
  • I'll get back to you @SwamiVishwananda while the question seems clear to me, my motivation to pursue it isn't, sorry –  Nov 29 '21 at 14:58
  • Hey @tkruse I did my best to get my motivations down but now it does read like an opinion question. Sorry! –  Nov 29 '21 at 16:49
  • it's a question AND answer site. question don't need the same references. imho anyway @tkruse –  Nov 29 '21 at 17:27

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