Better Than Zilch?

Filippo Casati, Naoya Fujikawa

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/LLP.2015.004

Abstract


In their paper ‘Zilch’, Oliver and Smiley claim that the word ‘nothing’ can be used as a singular term and that ‘nothing’ as a singular term and the word ‘zilch’ are empty terms, which fail to refer to anything. In this paper, we propose that ‘nothing’ as a singular term and ‘zilch’ can be used to denote null things such as absences, null objects or nothingness. We also claim that, pace their interpretation of Heidegger’s ‘das Nichts’ as an empty term, it should be understood as such a singular term that refers to nothingness.


Keywords


‘Zilch’; ‘nothing’ as a singular term; empty terms; null objects; nothingness; Martin Heidegger

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References


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ISSN: 1425-3305 (print version)

ISSN: 2300-9802 (electronic version)

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