Nothing and the Vacuum

Abstract

Nonclassical science has given a precise character to the concept of heterogeneous being and has eliminated the concept of abstract, pure being from the world picture by depriving such being of physical meaning. Accordingly, it has filled the concept of determinate nothing with physical content and has deprived ‘pure nothing’ of such content. The concept of the vacuum is the modern, nonclassical equivalent of determinate nothing. From a nonclassical, historical perspective, we can now examine determinate nothing, the vacuum, as being that has lost one of its components: macroscopic ratio, or its microscopic filling.