Nihilism

- nihilist is a man who does not bow down before any authority, who does not tak
e any principle on fait, whateve reverence that principle may be enshrined in
- nihilism, the radical repudiation of value, meaning, and desirability
- 4 types of nihilism:
- moral nihilism denies the sense of moral obligation, the objectivity of moral
principles, or the moral viewpoint
- epistemological nihilism denies that there can be anything like truths or mea
ning not strictly confined within, or wholly relative to, a singe individual, gr
oup, or conceptua scheme
- cosmic nihilism disavows intelligibility or value in nature, seeing it as ind
ifferent or hostile to fundamental human concerns
- existential nihilism negates the meaning of life
- negating a meaning(?)
- meaning of life -> life has a purpose which can be signified or explained
- the most remarkable achievement of the Christian world picture: that it could
take slaves, cripples, imbeciles, the simple and the mighty, and make them all s
ecure heroes, simply by taking a step back from the world into another dimension
of things, the dimension called heaven (Ernest Becker)
- "for most of our Wester history we have not talked about he mieaning of life.
This is because we used to be quite certain we knew what it was (Julian Young)
- god is dead => the loss of power of Chiristianity
- the more universe seems compihencible, the more it seems pointless
==
active and passive nihilism
==
- *** "Gradually it has become clear to me what every great philosophy so far ha
s been; the personal confession of its author and a kind of involuntary and unco
nscious memoir"
- nihilism as it is experienced - the actual 'existential' sense of the meaningl
ess and futility of life - is not the produce of an intellectual theory" - Victo
r Frankl
- individuals need to be convinced that the purpose they believe in is objective
- meaning of life => "written in the fabric of universe"
- individuals attain this assurance through teahcing espoused by what htey condi
ser a "superhuman authority"
- sense of purpose => participating in some movements, political, ideological, f
or leader, nation ...
- "after realizing that the beliefs thay previously held regarding the meaning
of life are false, nihilists conclude that all beliefs in regards to life's mean
ing are equally delusional
- ** those afflicted with nihilism would be forced to find meaning on this earth
- *** the world might be far more valuable than we used to believe; we must see

through the naivate of our ideals, and while we tought that we had accorded in t
he highest interpretation, we may not hae given our human existence a moderately
fair value
- active nihilism => nihilism as a sign of increased power of the spirit;
- as an individual who charges forward and consciously destroys all the
beliefs which previously gave meaning to their lives
- (?) reaches its maximum of relative strength as a violent force of des
truction
- pasiive nihilism => nihilism as decline and recession of the power of the spir
it
- lacks the strength
- seeks someoen to give him purpose, meaning of life
- *** to the frustrated a mass movement offers substitues either for whole self
or for the element which make life bearable and thich they cannot evoke out of t
heir individual resources - by Eric Hoffer
- *** after ridding oneself with all the beliefs and attachments that previously
gave their life meaning the active nihilist stands alone in the universe. A tru
e independent free spirit able to create meaning instead having it imposed on hi
m from authority figure
==
suffering and the meaning of life
==
- need for there to be a meaning to life => need for there to be a meaning to su
ffering
- *** the meaninglessness of suffering, not the suffering itself, was the curse
that lay over manking so far
- man must be sustained in suffering by a hope so high that no conflict with act
uality can dash it - so high, that no fulfillemnt can satisfy it: a hope reachin
g out beyond this world
- **** the most inteligent men, like the strongest, find their happiness where o
thers would find only disaster: in the ;abyrinth, in being hard with themselves
and with others, in effort; their delight is in self-mastery;in them ascetism be
comes second nature, a necessity, an instinct. They regard a difficult task as a
privilege; it is to hem a recreation to play with burder that would crush all o
thers ***