MAN BETWEEN “ALL” AND “NOTHING”

Abstract

The paper discusses the ontological and epistemological potential of the use of the categories of “everything” and “nothing” to describe the modes of human existence. People are represented as seeking for superbeing and corposana, constantly transcending themselves and the surrounding reality. Man is “the middle” between Nothing (which contains potentially Everything) and Everything (like relevance, which is always incomplete in any respect, that is, always contains Nothing as relevance). Man is defined through the concept of “soul”, which is understood as Everything that is human. People are “bigger” than the world, as the world is always “too small” for them. The paper discusses the development of the processes of understanding “everything” and “nothing” as modes of human existence in the ancient, medieval, Renaissance and modern thought.

Keywords

• everything, nothing, being, person, soul, modes, ontological, epistemological, current, potential, history, antiquity, middle ages, renaissance, modernism, modernity