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Full Idea
Among the simple things, we must also place their negation and deprivation, insofar as they fall under out intelligence, because the idea of nothingness, of the instant, of rest, is no less true an idea than that of existence, of duration, of motion.
Gist of Idea
Among the simples are the graspable negations, such as rest and instants
Source
René Descartes (Rules for the Direction of the Mind [1628], 12)
Book Ref
Descartes,René: 'Rules for the Direction of the Mind' [Newcomb Library 2023], p.39
A Reaction
He sees the 'simple' things as the foundation of all knowledge, because they are self-evident. Not sure about 'no less true', since the specific nothings are parasitic on the somethings.
| 445 | The realm of necessary non-existence cannot be explored, because it is unknowable [Parmenides] |
| 1503 | There is no such thing as nothing [Parmenides] |
| 18933 | Not-Being obviously doesn't exist, and the five modes of Being are all impossible [Gorgias, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 20902 | Being does not exist more than non-being [Democritus, by Aristotle] |
| 20904 | The non-existent exists as much as the existent, because it has causal powers [Democritus] |
| 11278 | What does 'that which is not' refer to? [Plato] |
| 24029 | Among the simples are the graspable negations, such as rest and instants [Descartes] |
| 21762 | To grasp an existence, we must consider its non-existence [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
| 21977 | Nothing exists, as thinkable and expressible [Hegel] |
| 22919 | A thing which makes no difference seems unlikely to exist [Le Poidevin] |
| 14393 | The totality state is the most plausible truthmaker for negative existential truths [Merricks] |
| 23538 | Nothingness only exists in consciousness [Berardi] |
| 12408 | Sartre to Waitress: Coffee with no cream, please... [Sommers,W] |