negative

from Lohbado's sketchbook

Negative and false are two concepts that have been discussed since antiquity. It occurs for example in Plato's Sophist, the discussion about what is involved in falsehood, or being and non-being. How can something which is not the case exist? Negative Dialectics is the title of a book by Adorno, where he mentioned how whenever one asserts an identity or concept, that from which the concept separates itself is part of the assertion. The assertion occurs against a background. The concept of day would not occur if night did not exist. The moment Joe says he is short, he implies the existence of tall people, otherwise the concept of short wouldn't exist. Negative is something that positively exists in relation to the positive. So even if one would like to be positive, being positive occurs in conjunction with the negative.


All one knows is existence. Try for a moment to imagine non-existence. Whatever you imagine is a thought. Thoughts are an expression of existence. Of course, thoughts are impermanent and transparent, but they exist in the same way that the concept of numbers exist. They exist in the intelligible realm. One could have a false idea, which exists as a false idea, for example, to write on a math test 2 + 2= 5 exists as an answer, but it's the wrong answer. It's false.