BEFORE BEING

A philosophical examination of the concept of absolute nothingness.

This work from author and physician-scientist Howard begins the way many academic-leaning treatises do, with both a preface and a prologue establishing its central aims and questions. The author endeavors to define what, exactly, we humans can conceive as true nothingness—that is, a nothing beyond thought, a nothing before thought. Not just an absence, or a void, but nothing whatsoever. Such an abstruse concept is an understandable barrier to entry for many readers, but Howard starts off slowly by addressing ancient schools of philosophy, from the Greeks to cultures in Asia, and their relationship to the idea of nothing. The problem he runs into is that even the great philosophers of the more recent eras, such as Heidegger and Sartre, conceive of a nothingness that can only be understood in relation to something. Readers will do well to remember the author’s earlier admission: “We cannot fully picture what we are talking about.” But Howard tries nevertheless, showing readers the manner in which modern physics can illuminate but not quite touch this idea of nothingness, eventually landing on his actual premise, or at least what he refers to as the book’s “conceptual center”: “the radical idea that absolute nothingness could not hold.” The author develops this conceptual center through notions of existence and consciousness as a gift, and uses the parameters he has established to attempt to answer, at least in part, the more relatable questions of who we are as humans and why we are here.

As one might glean from this description, Howard’s text is quite dense, even at a slim 130 pages. That being said, for readers who are willing to slow down, and especially for those with an academic interest or professional background in philosophy—these readers are likely the work’s target audience—there is quite a bit of meat on the bone here, most especially when it comes to the interplay between Howard’s idea of absolute nothingness and our own brains, which are notoriously averse to abandoning any semblance of structure or labels. This is a challenging work that seems to promise readers that some of the universe’s secrets may be hiding in its pages, if only they are willing to push their own minds to the limits of their understanding. While at times this stance can seem adversarial, there is a clear sense that Howard wants readers to grasp these difficult concepts (in a disclaimer, the author writes, “Readers are encouraged to engage critically and thoughtfully with the ideas presented”), and it is refreshing to encounter a work of philosophy that is so deeply academic yet also concerned with readability. Certain grating peccadilloes do pop up in the text here and there, such as the author pronouncing that the book is actually beginning, for real now, multiple times. The audience for this book might be somewhat narrow, but readers up to the challenge are sure to be glad they found Howard’s work.

A deeply academic and satisfying philosophical inquiry that tackles some of life’s biggest questions.