The Void (philosophy)

The Void is the philosophical concept of nothingness manifested. The notion of The Void is relevant to several realms of metaphysics. The Void is also prevalent in numerous facets of psychology, notably logotherapy.

The manifestation of nothingness is closely associated with the contemplation of emptiness, and with human attempts to identify and personify it. As such, the concept of The Void, and ideas similar to it, have a significant and historically evolving presence in artistic and creative expression, as well as in academic, scientific and philosophical debate surrounding the nature of the human condition.

In this sense, knowledge or experience of the Void could be said to actually be unknowing, given its inherent ineffability. In Western mystical traditions, it was often argued that the transcendent 'Ground of Being' could therefore be approached through aphairesis, a form of negation.

The Void as a cognomen is not easily defined, as the word itself means "empty" or "without content." The concept of The Void has existed since the dawn of philosophy. Aristotle, in Book IV of Physica, denied its existence with his rejection of finite entities.

Western philosophers have discussed the existence and nature of void since Parmenides suggested it did not exist and used this to argue for the non-existence of change, motion, differentiation, among other things. In response to Parmenides, the Atomists described the universe as only being composed of atoms and void. There were questions as to whether void was truly nothing or if it was in fact filled with other things, with theories of aether being suggested to fill the void.

Peter Matthiessen in The Snow Leopard (1978) described an experience of sitting on rocks in the Himalayas as leading to an awareness of a Void at the centre, or the source, of phenomenal existence: "These hard rocks instruct my bones in what my brain could never grasp in the Heart Sutra, that 'form is emptiness and emptiness is form' – the Void, the emptiness of blue-black space, contained in everything."

...
Wikipedia