“Can something new arise from nothing?”
Is the question at the intersection of aesthetics and psychoanalysis.
Before delving into the ideas and developing what some artists or philosophers such as Mallarmé or Lacan have written on this question, I think we need to start by defining the concept of “nothing.”
What is nothing? Does it actually exist? It is not always clear on certain occasions. There are multiple perspectives with shared opinions or perceptions, but they also tend to differ in certain other parts.
In science, for example, in chemistry, there is this fundamental law of Lavoisier: nothing can be created from nothing because it would violate the law of conservation of energy. This law presupposes that energy cannot be destroyed or appear out of nowhere, it is constant.
In philosophy, we see that the question of nothingness was already intriguing in prehistoric times. The founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy, Parmenides, had his reflections on the subject.
Quick summary: Herakleitos, before Parmenides, was the philosopher who claimed that there is no static being, everything flows, everything changes all the time, and nothing stays the same (panta rhei).
