| Title | Why Not Nothing? Meillassoux's Second Figure of Faciality and Metaphysical Nihilism |
|---|---|
| Contributor | James T. Hill (author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.21983/P3.0122.1.06 |
| Landing page | https://punctumbooks.com/titles/speculations-vi/ |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Hill, James T. |
| Publisher | punctum books |
| Published on | 2015-12-12 |
| Long abstract | According to Quentin Meil-lassoux, the principle of sufficient reason (‘PSR’) is a philosophi-cal fifth postulate. His project is to carry out an “adventure” analogous to that of non-Euclidean geometry, this time within philosophy.1 But whereas Lobachevsky developed his hyper-bolic geometry without first trying to demonstrate that the fifth postulate was false (i.e. without trying to demonstrate the consistency of Euclidean geometry sans the fifth postulate, with its negation), Meillassoux believes he can demonstrate that the PSR is (absolutely) false.2 Indeed, it is his view that this proof involves a species of certainty – or at any rate fun-damentality – not available in mathematics. |
| Page range | pp. 121–138 |
| Print length | 18 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |