Critical Notice: Absence & Nothing. The Philosophy of What There Is Not

Extract

Stephen Mumford's new book is a comprehensive study and discussion of a perennial philosophical topic: nothing, or what does not exist, or non-being. The varieties of non-being are many: negative properties, negative facts, negative particulars, non-actual beings, holes, privations, omissions, negative norms, negative epistemic states, and so on. Mumford discusses all of these, plus topics like causation by absence, perception of absence, empty reference, negative truth, and negation and denial. The book even contains an example of its topic, since it has a conspicuous hole in the middle: There is no Chapter 6 and one immediately perceives its absence.

The book is written in a clear and amenable style, and as the range it covers is immense, so is the opportunity for philosophical reflection it affords. For reasons of space, I cannot comment on everything I would like to, and so I shall limit myself to a handful of observations, especially with regard to interesting points that I thought were in need of further clarification.