iv.] THE IDEA OF 'NOTHING' 293 



to sense, which will transmit them, as more or less distinct 

 ideas, to the intelligence. In this sense the negation 

 of dampness is as objective a thing, as purely intellectual, 

 as remote from every pedagogical intention, as affirmation. 

 — But let us look at it more closely: we shall see that the 

 negative proposition, "The ground is not damp," and the 

 affirmative proposition, "The ground is dry," have en- 

 tirely different contents. The second implies that we 

 know the dry, that we have experienced the specific 

 sensations, tactile or visual for example, that are at the 

 base of this idea. The first requires nothing of the sort; 

 it could equally well have been formulated by an intelligent 

 fish, who had never perceived anything but the wet. It 

 would be necessary, it is true, that this fish should have 

 risen to the distinction between the real and the possible, 

 and that he should care to anticipate the error of his 

 fellow-fishes, who doubtless consider as alone possible 

 the condition of wetness in which they actually live. Keep 

 strictly to the terms of the proposition, "The ground is 

 not damp," and you will find that it means two things: 

 (1) that one might believe that the ground is damp, (2) 

 that the dampness is replaced in fact by a certain quality x. 

 This quality is left indeterminate, either because we have 

 no positive knowledge of it, or because it has no actual 

 interest for the person to whom the negation is addressed. 

 To deny, therefore, always consists in presenting in 

 an abridged form a system of two affirmations: the one 

 determinate, which applies to a certain possible; the 

 other indeterminate, referring to the unknown or in- 

 different reality that supplants this possibility. The 

 second affirmation is virtually contained in the judgment 

 we apply to the first, a judgment which is negation it- 

 self. And what gives negation its subjective character 

 is precisely this, that in the discovery of a replacement 



