JoLMA

The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts

The Dark Side of Being: On What There is Not

open access | peer reviewed
Abstract

In contrast to Quine’s (meta-)ontology and his preference for desert landscapes, recent years have seen a renewed interest in ‘non-being’: non-existent entities, mere possibilia, negative properties, negative facts, absences, nothingness, voids, holes, etc. Interest in the category of non-being is not limited to ontology but has also found applications in the philosophy of mind, particularly regarding the role intentionality plays in relation to non-entities and the problem of perceiving absences. Additionally, it has influenced the philosophy of art, especially in discussions about absence art – i.e., art that features absences as aesthetic objects. This issue of JoLMA highlights the richness of the topic by presenting eight fresh papers that range from metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology, to philosophy of language, aesthetics, and philosophy of mind. 

Keywords Empty stringRadical perceptualismabsencePictorial abscencesMetaphysical GroundingLackCharacterization PrincipleMixed quotationAbsence CausationAristotle’s homonymyNon-BeingOstensive definitionVerbs of absencenegative nothingnessEmpty quotationNāgārjunaModerate perceptualismMetacognitivismAdornoSemanticsKant’s table of nothingmixed-mediaBeingCognitivismFictional objectsBe missingNothingnessReported speechNuclear propertiesEliminativist error theoriesInformalismMillaresnonidentityPerception of absencesAbsenceNon-existent objectsabsolute nothingness(Modal) noneism

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/Jolma/2723-9640/2024/02 | Published Dec. 11, 2024 | Language en