But because the nothing obviously can never be a being, the only other alternative is that it is the purely null. Who would wish to repudiate such compelling "logic"? All due respect to logic! But correct thinking can be called on as a court of last resort only if one has previously established that what is to be "correctly" thought according to the rules of "logic" also exhausts everything thinkable, everything that is to be thought and is given over to thinking.
What if in truth the nothing were indeed not a being but also were not simply null? And what if the question about the essence of the nothing, with the help of that either-or, had not yet been adequately formulated? Finally, what if the default of a developed question about the essence of the nothing were the grounds for the fact that Western metaphysics had to fall prey to nihilism? Then nihilism, conceived and experienced in a more original and essential way, would be that history of metaphysics which is heading toward a fundamental metaphysical position in which the essence of the nothing not only cannot be understood but also will no longer be understood. Nihilism would then be the essential nonthinking of the essence of the nothing. Here, perhaps, is the reason why Nietzsche was forced into what from his point of view was "complete" nihilism, Because Nietzsche surely recognized nihilism as a movement of modern Western history but was unable to think about the essence of the nothing, being unable to raise the question, he had to become a classical nihilist who expressed the history that is now happening. Nietzsche knew and experienced nihilism because he himself thought nihilistically. Nietzsche's concept of nihilism is itself nihilistic, Consequently, in spite of all his insights, he could not recognize the hidden essence of nihilism, because right from the outset, solely on the basis of valuative thought, he conceived of nihilism as a process of the devaluation of the uppermost values. Nietzsche had to conceive of nihilism that way because in remaining on the path and within the realm of Western metaphysics, he thought it to its conclusion.
In no sense did Nietzsche interpret nihilism as a process of devaluing the uppermost values merely because valuative thought played a role in the course of his education or in his "private" views and positions. Valuative thought played this part in Nietzsche's thought because