Abstract

Heidegger famously asked the question of being: what is it for an object to be? This chapter answers the question. First, there is a discussion of whether there can be partless objects. It is argued that if there can, such objects can be thought of as their own gluons. Next, there is a discussion of whether there can be objects which are not unities. This possibility is rejected. This clears the ground for the thought that the being of an object just is its gluon. This fact explains some of the contradictions into which Heidegger was driven in discussing being. The last part of the chapter discusses the important notion of nothingness. It is argued that nothingness is a contradictory object, and is its own gluon.