| rdfs:comment | - Nihilism is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life.
- The word Nihilism comes from the Latin word "nihil" meaning "nothing" or "nothingess". Nihilism is used for a lot of positions in philosophy that there is nothing at all; that people know nothing at all; that there are no moral principles at all, and virtually any other position that could be framed with the word 'nothing'. But the most common use, and what humans explore today, is nihilism as the view that nothing we do, nothing we create, nothing we love, has any meaning or value whatsoever. This same root is found in the verb “annihilate” -- to bring to nothing, to destroy completely.
- Nihilism is a philosophical doctrine that argues that life is without objective, meaning, and purpose. Some beliefs in Nihilism include:
* labels all values as worthless, therefore, nothing can be known or communicated.
- Nihilism is the belief in nothing. A true nihilist would have no loyalties, and no purpose. Friedrich Nietzsche argued that nihilism's corrosive effects would eventually destroy all moral, religious, and metaphysical convictions; cause the collapse of meaning, relevance, purpose, and precipitate the greatest crisis in human history. German political philosopher Leo Strauss argued that modern liberalism has within it a tendency towards nihilism. And because of this view, some philosophers (as far back as Plato) have argued that political leaders should invent inspiring myths in order to unite citizens of modern liberal democratic society behind a common purpose, the concept of natural rights as formulated in the Declaration of Independence is often cited as an example of an inspiring myth.
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| abstract | - Nihilism is a philosophical doctrine that argues that life is without objective, meaning, and purpose. Some beliefs in Nihilism include:
* labels all values as worthless, therefore, nothing can be known or communicated. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), is most often associated with nihilism. In Will to Power [notes 1883-1888], he writes, “Every belief, every considering something true, is necessarily false because there is simply no true world.” For Nietzsche, there is no objective order or structure in the world except what we give it. Despite this it appears Nietzsche opposed nihilism.
- Nihilism is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life.
- Nihilism is the belief in nothing. A true nihilist would have no loyalties, and no purpose. Friedrich Nietzsche argued that nihilism's corrosive effects would eventually destroy all moral, religious, and metaphysical convictions; cause the collapse of meaning, relevance, purpose, and precipitate the greatest crisis in human history. German political philosopher Leo Strauss argued that modern liberalism has within it a tendency towards nihilism. And because of this view, some philosophers (as far back as Plato) have argued that political leaders should invent inspiring myths in order to unite citizens of modern liberal democratic society behind a common purpose, the concept of natural rights as formulated in the Declaration of Independence is often cited as an example of an inspiring myth. Major types of nihilism include:
* epistemological nihilism which denies the possibility of knowledge and truth; this form of nihilism is identified with postmodernism. One famous example of epistemological nihilism is the words Socrates said before his death: "I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing."
* Political Nihilism is the belief that the destruction of all existing political, social, and religious order is a prerequisite for any future improvement; this form of nihilism is identified with anarchism.
* Moral nihilism rejects all moral or ethical values; this form of nihilism is identified with moral relativism.
* Existential nihilism is the notion that life has no meaning or purpose.
* Mereological nihilism is the view that objects with parts do not exist, it's a human illusion; this view has been identified with some aspects of Buddhist philosophy and Immanuel Kant's transcendental idealism. In his book, The Decline of the West, German philosopher Oswald Spengler observes that pattern of nihilism was a feature shared by all civilizations on the verge of collapse.
- The word Nihilism comes from the Latin word "nihil" meaning "nothing" or "nothingess". Nihilism is used for a lot of positions in philosophy that there is nothing at all; that people know nothing at all; that there are no moral principles at all, and virtually any other position that could be framed with the word 'nothing'. But the most common use, and what humans explore today, is nihilism as the view that nothing we do, nothing we create, nothing we love, has any meaning or value whatsoever. This same root is found in the verb “annihilate” -- to bring to nothing, to destroy completely. A Nihilist is basically someone who believes that everything in existence has no purpose, value or meaning, their own lives included. Nihilists do not believe in the existence of any objective morality and doesn't care for their own lifes. They usually do not have any specific purpose in their actions. Many Nihilists wish to kill everything in reality, since they think the existence is nothing. Nihilism not only captures a philosophical point of view, but a certain mood, a certain melancholy: is this all there is? Is all of humanity just a paltry few years of events on an insignificant planet, about which the universe cares nothing'? Does anything matter?
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