Nothing: A User’s Manual

In introducing this enigmatic topic, I often begin with a riddle that points to its elusive, mobile character: What is greater than God, more powerful than evil, the rich have it, the poor need it, and if you eat it, you die?—Nothing.

In the multiple contexts in which I’ve navigated the topic of nothing (course, conference, collection of essays, special issue), it has proved a subject that provokes mirth, irony, and skepticism. When I have told colleagues that I’m teaching “A Course About Nothing,” the responses I get range from “Oh…it must have a short reading list,” to “Well, I’m going to teach my class now—at least it’s about something,” to “Uh-huh” or just “Huh.” (I have a slight preference for “huh” because it is linked to nothing through its palindromic symmetry (h-u-h), plus it is resolutely noncommittal; it says nothing.) And when I sent out a Call for Papers for this special issue, several people thought it was a hoax; I received many responses that said, “Dear Dr. Harris, please find below my submission for your journal issue,” with the rest left blank. Still others wondered whether the topic of Nothing could lead to anything but more postmodern nihilism or empty intellectual solipsisms. Finally, on a pragmatic, pedagogical level, in setting out to investigate Nothing, one faces fundamental questions regarding both the utility and the futility of the topic. On the one hand, of what use could it be to pursue Nothing? And on the other, how can any search for it, any attempt to define or capture it, end up in anything but futility?