Moten, Sartre, and Schelling on Nothingness

Contemporary critical theory and black studies have witnessed a surge in theoretical accounts of “blackness” as “nothingness”. Drawing on the work of the leading black studies theorist Fred Moten, this paper offers a philosophical analysis of the postulation of blackness as nothingness in comparison to the “canonical” philosophical accounts of Sartre and Schelling. In doing so, this paper highlights how Moten’s distinction between “absolute” and “relative” nothingness can supplement recent philosophical interests in the metaphysics of nothingness (e.g., Bernstein; Mumford; Priest), which can in turn foster further dialogues between analytic philosophy and other contemporary theoretical inquires.