A philosopher built a career arguing that nothing exists at all

The Greek sophist Gorgias advanced three deliberately outrageous claims: nothing exists; even if something existed, it couldn't be known; and even if it could be known, that knowledge couldn't be communicated to anyone else. Rather than sincere nihilism, most scholars read it as a dazzling display of rhetorical skill, built to prove that persuasive speech can argue literally anything.

— Gorgias, On Nature, or On the Non-Existent — 5th century BCE