Kant and the Problem of Nothingness - (Bloomsbury Studies in Modern German Philosophy) by Ernesto Mayz Vallenilla

Book Synopsis

The Latin American philosopher Ernesto Mayz Vallenilla published the first study of Kant's concept of nothingness in 1965. This translation of Mayz Vallenilla's ground-breaking work makes it available in English for the first time.

Mayz Vallenilla's interpretation is deeply informed by Heidegger's reading of Kant, against the background of the early 20th century neo-Kantian tradition. He offers a detailed interpretation and critique of "nothing" as it appears in the Amphiboly chapter of the Critique of Pure Reason and presents an analysis of Kant's Table of Nothing which understands temporality as the horizon of all possible cognition[AE1], including cognition of real nothings.

Accompanied by translator's notes and a glossary, Addison Ellis' translation includes extensive commentary and an introduction providing historical context and references to the original sources in German. He preserves key terminology and phrasing from the original text and allows an often-neglected connection to be made between the Kantian tradition in Latin America and the tradition in the Anglophone world.

Review Quotes

Mayz Vallenilla's Kant and the Problem of Nothingness offers the most thorough and insightful treatments of the intriguing Table of Nothingness in the Critique of Pure Reason. Kant´s fourfold division in the Table is superbly reconstructed by Mayz Vallenilla in this significant book of Latin American philosophical scholarship. The book puts into question, in a subtle and acute way, received ideas concerning temporality, experience and categorial thinking. It certainly constitutes a nice and refreshing counterpart to some of Heidegger´s most cherished thoughts about the ontology of time. Addison Ellis has done a superb philosophical translation from the Spanish, with detailed references to the original sources in German, together with aptly placed editorial notes explaining the historic and systematic context of the work.
Efraín Lazos, Professor of Philosophy, The National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico

About the Author

Addison Ellis is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at The American University in Cairo, Egypt.

Ernesto Mayz Vallenilla (1925 - 2015) was a Venezuelan philosopher. He was Professor of Philosophy at the Central University of Venezuela, and rector-founder of the Simón Bolívar University, Venezuela.