Part II of the Double Issue on Nothingness

This special double issue of Asian Studies is dedicated to exploring the manifold meanings, implications, and philosophical functions of “nothingness” across diverse Asian and transcultural traditions. Its second part advances the inquiry by turning to specific constellations of thought in which nothingness plays a formative role. The issue is divided into four thematic sections: “Transcultural Comparisons”, “Freedom and Beauty”, “Analytical Approaches”, and “The Buddhist Legacies in Indian and Japanese Ideas on Nothingness”. Each section approaches the topic from a different angle: the first investigates how nothingness mediates philosophical exchange across cultures; the second examines its role in the constitution of axiology in artistic and moral experience; the third offers formal, logical, and epistemological perspectives; and the fourth returns to the Buddhist roots of many Asian philosophies of nothingness to explore their ongoing relevance.