Nothing According to Anselm and Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story

Abstract Anselm uniquely examined the concept of nothing in a number of his works. In his analyses, he appeared to argue that the intelligibility of concrete existence was evidence of God’s existence and that the possible ‘existence’ of nothing, or inexistence, was an absurd, unintelligible, impossible reality, as was a theoretical, unintelligible existence. A similar argument was uniquely presented in Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story. This article examines Anselm’s analysis of nothing in conjunction with Ende’s ‘The Nothing’ and illustrates how Ende’s presentation can assist in understanding Anselm’s explanations of nothing and how Anselm’s ideas can offer insights into elements of Ende’s novel.