A short talk about being and nothing

Ule, Andrej (author)

I wonder how to approach the questions of being and nothing when they are posed to us in all seriousness. In cultural and philosophical history, several conceptions of being and nothing and several ways of solving these questions have appeared. We can find six main ways: the Eleatic (Parmenidean) way of the identity of being and thought, wonder at the fullness of being, which excludes any nothingness, the way through paradoxes, skeptical reticence, recourse to non-classical logics, and the path of spiritual insight into the mysterious interweaving of being and nothing in everything we do, think and speak. Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages. I am trying to show that the last way is the most promising, but only if we overlook how being and nothingness are constantly simultaneously and intertwiningly given to us.

• Language: English
• Keywords: being, nothing, thinking and speaking, paradoxes, non-classical logic
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 139-151
• Numbering: Vol. 13, no. 2
• ISSN on article: 2232-5131
• DOI: 10.4312/as.2025.13.2.139-151
• Publication date in RUL: 05.11.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Asian studies = Azijske študije
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 265206272

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Kratek razgovor o biti in niču

Abstract

Sprašujem se, kako se lotevati vprašanj o biti in niču, kadar se nam zastavijo z vso resnostjo. V kulturni in filozofski zgodovini se je pojavilo več pojmovanj biti in niča ter več poti za reševanje teh vprašanj. Lahko najdemo šest glavnih poti: eleatska (parmenidovska) pot identitete biti in misli, čudenje pred polnostjo biti, ki izključuje sleherni nič, pot skozi paradokse, skeptična zadržanost, zatekanje v neklasično logiko ter pot duhovnega uvida v skrivnostno prepletanje biti in niča v vsem, kar počnemo, razmišljamo ter govorimo. Vsaka od njih ima svoje prednosti in manke, vendar skušam pokazati, da je zadnja pot najbolj obetavna, vendar le tedaj, ko spregledamo, kako se nam nenehno sočasno in medsebojno prepleteno dajeta bit in nič.

• Keywords: bit, nič, mišljenje in govor, paradoksi, prepletanje, neklasična logika