12 MATHESIS. 



magnitudes. The is, indeed, the retroversion of + 

 into ; yet alone, therefore, it is not perfectly equal to 0. 

 It is a retrovertent, and consequently the second act, 

 which presupposes the positive. By the we know 

 what is not ; the is, however, a nothing in every respect. 

 The is the copula between and +. 



52. If the + is the posited, so is it a nothing 

 posited or determined. This position is, however, a 

 number, and therefore a mathematical something. The 

 nothing thus becomes a something, a Finite, a Real, 

 through the simple positing of itself, and the something be- 

 comes a nothing by the removal of this self-position. The 

 nothing itself is, however, the mere neglect of its self-posi- 

 tion. The something, the + , has consequently not 

 arisen or emerged out of nothing, or from the latter 

 something associated with another been produced ; but 

 it is nothing itself; the whole undivided nothing has 

 become unity. The nothing once posited as nothing is 

 = 1. We cannot speak of production or evolution in 

 this case ; but of the complete identity and uniformity of 

 the nothing with the something ; it is a virgin product or 

 birth. 



53. Zero must be endlessly positing itself, for in every 

 respect it is indefinite or unlimited, eternal. The num- 

 ber of finite singularities must, therefore, pass into the 

 Infinite. 



54. The whole of Arithmetic is nothing but the end- 

 less repetition of nothing, an endless positing and remov- 

 ing of nothing. 



We can become acquainted with nothing but the 

 nothing, for the Original of our knowledge is the 0. 



There is no other science than that which treats of 

 nothing. 



Every Real, if it were such in itself, could not be 

 known, because the possibilities of its properties would 

 pass into the Infinite. The nothing alone is cognizable, be- 

 cause it has only a single property, namely, that of having 

 none; concerning which knowledge no doubt can be 

 entertained. 



