| 1. To the categories of quantity, that is, the conceptions of all, many, and one, the conception which annihilates all, that is, the conception of none, is opposed. |
| And thus the object of a conception, to which no intuition can be found to correspond, is = nothing. |
| That is, it is a conception without an object (ens rationis), like noumena, which cannot be considered possible in the sphere of reality, though they must not therefore be held to be impossible--or like certain new fundamental forces in matter, the existence of which is cogitable without contradiction, though, as examples from experience are not forthcoming, they must not be regarded as possible. |
| 2. Reality is something; negation is nothing, that is, a conception of the absence of an object, as cold, a shadow (nihil privativum). |
| 3. The mere form of intuition, without substance, is in itself no object, but the merely formal condition of an object (as phenomenon), as pure space and pure time. |
| These are certainly something, as forms of intuition, but are not themselves objects which are intuited (ens imaginarium). |
| 4. The object of a conception which is self-contradictory, is nothing, because the conception is nothing--is impossible, as a figure composed of two straight lines (nihil negativum). |
| The table of this division of the conception of nothing (the corresponding division of the conception of something does not require special description) must therefore be arranged as follows: |
| NOTHING AS |
| 1 As Empty Conception without object, ens rationis 2 3 Empty object of Empty intuition a conception, without object, nihil privativum ens imaginarium 4 Empty object without conception, nihil negativum |
| We see that the ens rationis is distinguished from the nihil negativum or pure nothing by the consideration that the former must not be reckoned among possibilities, because it is a mere fiction- though not self-contradictory, while the latter is completely opposed to all possibility, inasmuch as the conception annihilates itself. |
| Both, however, are empty conceptions. |
| On the other hand, the nihil privativum and ens imaginarium are empty data for conceptions. |
| If light be not given to the senses, we cannot represent to ourselves darkness, and if extended objects are not perceived, we cannot represent space. |
| Neither the negation, nor the mere form of intuition can, without something real, be an object. |
| TRANSCENDENTAL LOGIC. |
| SECOND DIVISION. |
| TRANSCENDENTAL DIALECTIC. |
| INTRODUCTION. |
| I. Of Transcendental Illusory Appearance. |
| We termed dialectic in general a logic of appearance. |