After a bit of read ups I came across this...
In Les Misérables, Victor Hugo contrasts universal negation with universal affirmation:
All roads are blocked to a philosophy which reduces everything to the word ‘no.’ To ‘no’ there is only one answer and that is ‘yes.’ Nihilism has no substance. There is no such thing as nothingness, and zero does not exist. Everything is something. Nothing is nothing. Man lives more by affirmation than by bread. (1862, pt. 2, bk. 7, ch. 6).
As far as simplicity, there is a tie between the nihilistic rule ‘Always answer no!’ and the inflationary rule ‘Always answer yes!’. Neither rule makes for serious metaphysics.
1 comment:
ok for once i thought u mastered the hindu art of doing nothing, but u r doing it western style. try the eastern art of doing nothing... sit quiet with ur legs crossed, eyes closed and ur brain emtpy of thoughts. now that wud be what i want to master...
even then from the philosophers point of view u will not be doing nothing.. u will be doing nothing which is in fact doing something, which is nothing... err
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