Editing Nothing (section)

====G. W. F. Hegel====
[[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] (1770–1831) is the philosopher who brought the [[dialectic]]al method to a new pinnacle of development. According to Hegel in ''[[Science of Logic]]'', the dialectical methods consists of three steps. First, a thesis is given, which can be any [[proposition]] in [[logic]]. Second, the antithesis of the thesis is formed and, finally, a synthesis incorporating both thesis and antithesis. Hegel believed that no proposition taken by itself can be completely true. Only the whole can be true, and the dialectical synthesis was the means by which the whole could be examined in relation to a specific proposition. Truth consists of the whole process. Separating out thesis, antithesis, or synthesis as a stand-alone statement results in something that is in some way or other untrue. The concept of "nothing" arises in Hegel right at the beginning of his ''Logic''. The whole is called by Hegel the "Absolute" and is to be viewed as something spiritual. Hegel then has:{{sfn|Russell|1995|pp=701–704}}
* [[Thesis]]: the absolute is pure being
* [[Antithesis]]: the absolute is nothing
* [[Thesis, antithesis, synthesis|Synthesis]]: the absolute is becoming