“The Nothing nothings. It is the Nothing itself that nihilates. In the nihilation of the Nothing the Nothing itself is revealed... Man's Being is the holding-out into the Nothing.”
Heidegger's obscure meditation on Nothingness (das Nichts) emerged from his analysis of anxiety (Angst). Anxiety reveals the Nothing—the absence of grounds, the groundlessness of existence. Unlike fear (which has an object), anxiety is objectless; it confronts the Nothing.
Critics found this passage notoriously unclear and seemingly nonsensical. Yet it became influential in existentialism: anxiety reveals the radical contingency of being, the absence of essential nature or predetermined meaning. It is existentially productive—it individualizes and awakens.
Commentary
Heidegger's obscure meditation on Nothingness (das Nichts) emerged from his analysis of anxiety (Angst). Anxiety reveals the Nothing—the absence of grounds, the groundlessness of existence. Unlike fear (which has an object), anxiety is objectless; it confronts the Nothing.
Critics found this passage notoriously unclear and seemingly nonsensical. Yet it became influential in existentialism: anxiety reveals the radical contingency of being, the absence of essential nature or predetermined meaning. It is existentially productive—it individualizes and awakens.