Cold is not the absence of heat, anymore than heat is the absence of cold. They are both identifiable phenomena independent of each other. I will grant that we gauge them by their opposite, but if you lived in the Arctic you could relate to he concept of cold, even had you never experienced heat. Nothingness is simply the abstract notion we create in the human mind when we hypothetically subtract everything that we know to exist. It has no existence in its own right. But now I've confused myself (O.o) and I was only teasing anyway as neither of our posts were incredibly serious anyway. :D

Fwiw: heat is a measurable energy that results in the feeling of warmth whereas cold is "absence" (in part) of that energy.

But its also measurable in its own right surely? We can see its affects for example. Its not a void. But then I did opt for literature over science...

The instruments we use to measure temperature actually measure the presence of heat in some form or another [ex. liquid thermometers use a fluid which increases in volume when heat (or energy) is present rather than when "cold" is present]. In the grand scheme of things this probably doesn't matter much haha, interesting none the less.