Nihilism is a philosophy that comes from the belief that the majority or all human concepts are meaningless. While the original philosophy labels the majority of human concepts as meaningless, four main sub-types have emerged; epistemological, political, ethical, and existential. These four reject a specific idea or concept, rendering said idea or concept meaningless. Nihilism evolved from an ancient Greek philosophy known as Skepticism, which centered itself on the rejection of absolute certainty. Originally in the philosophical world being labeled a nihilist meant faithless or belief-less. Then Friedrich Nietzsche, the ‘Father of Nihilism’, who took that slur in stride. He took the insult and turned it into an idea that an individual should …show more content…
Skepticism, as a philosophy, requires one to constantly question or even reject common knowledge and to find information on one’s own. Of course, extremes of any philosophy exist and nihilism may have formed as an extreme view of skepticism. As such, Skeptics often have a slight nihilistic interpretation of the world. One of the very first philosophers to speak about nihilism in its known sense, Max Stirner, began with denying absolutes. Many others took the concepts and eventually shaped nihilism into the philosophy about denying concepts, ideas, and truths. Nihilism, without the separation into smaller branches, has used the destruction of meaning in many of the basic principles that countless people use to build their life values upon to create an idea that one can easily live their life without ideas that, in nihilism, only way the mind …show more content…
It actually revolves around the idea that the only way for humankind’s governments to evolve and perform better is to tear them down and build a new government without the influence from the old. This branch is often associated with anarchy, with good reason, as anarchists and political nihilists both strive for the same goal in a sense. Many political nihilists come off as anarchists; however, while anarchists want absolutely no government and absolute freedom, political nihilists understand the need for rules and regulations, and they only want to destroy the current governments to unite them as one
opinion on existential nihilism. Existential nihilism is the philosophy that life has no intrinsic meaning, and rejects all religious and moral conformity. The main character meursault, displays all of these traits throughout the book. Camus gives the reader an alternative outlook on the life and how there is no right or wrong way of living because in the end, whether that be sooner or later everyone is going to have the same end fate. Camus demonstrated his belief of existential nihilism through the external and internal
Nihilists-People who believe traditional morals, ideas, etc. have no worth or value. They believe society 's political and social institutions are bad and it should be destroyed. They believed that anything and everything associated with the Tsar should be eliminated. An Example of a Russian nihilistic group is the peoples will who believed the only way to achieve freedom was to kill the czar.
When one thinks of Anarchy they will immediately think of destruction and chaos. Of course, one who knows the beliefs of Anarchy will know otherwise. Anarchism is a political philosophy that upholds the belief that no one should be able to coerce anyone and no society should contain a wide variety of groups who coordinate social functions. It is the opportunity to live the life that you decide is best for you. In the eyes of Anarchy, government is corrupt and the people of society should govern themselves. There should not be any rules, laws, or police officers to chastise or enforce anything on any individual. Anyone who knows Greek will know that the term Anarchy means no rulers; so an anarchist society is a society without rulers, not a chaotic society. Anarchy believes in liberty, solidarity, and equality.
Existentialism Existentialism is a philosophical movement that stresses individual existence. Human beings are totally free and responsible for their own actions. Another main idea of existentialism is the limitation of reason and the irreducibility of experience to any system. Man is not a detached observer of the world; rather, he "exists" in a special sense - he is "in the world." Stones, trees, and other objects do not share this existence, and man is open to the world and the objects in it.
The Merriam – Webster Dictionary defines existentialism as a chiefly 20th century philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad (Merriam, 2011). In other words, an existentialist believes that our natures are the natures we make for ourselves, the meaning of our existence is that we just exist and there may or may not be a meaning for the existence, and we have to individually decide what is right or wrong and good or bad for ourselves. No one can answer any of those things for us. A good example of existentialism is Woody Allen’s movie, Deconstructing Harry. A man is haunted by his past and his past has followed him into the present. He is a wreck not because of the things that happened to him, but because of the choices he made. He is consumed by regret and insecurity and he tries to find blame in his situation with someone other than himself, however he cannot (Barnes, 2011). Throughout the rest of this paper I will be discussing two of the most prominent existentialists, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.
Ernest Hemingway captures the essence and origins of nihilistic thought in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”, written in a time of religious and moral confusion shortly after The Great War. The ideas expressed in this short story represent the post World War 1 thinking of Hemingway, and the notoriously nihilistic Lost Generation in Paris, which was greatly influenced by the many traumas of war. Learning from his unnerving experiences in battle, Hemingway enforces the idea that all humans will inevitably fade into eternal nothingness and everything valued by humans is worthless. He develops this idea by creating a brilliant mockery of two coveted religious documents, revealing authority figures as typical, despicable, human beings, and reducing life into the most raw, simplistic, and frightening reality imaginable. He states that all humans will naturally die alone and literally be “in despair” about “nothing” (494), and that people will either seek a “calm and pleasant cafe” (496), or a self-inflicted death simply to escape despair. Undoubtedly, Hemingway destroys any existence of a higher meaning because, in reality “[life is] all a nothing, and a man [is] nothing too” (496). By viewing the actions of three different generations, Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” elaborates on the idea that life is not continual enlightenment and growth, but gradual despair, and an inevitable death into “nada” (497).
Hence, people cannot rely on those to guide them in life. This contributes to what Frankl (2010) referred as existential vacuum, which is “a sense of futility and emptiness and a feeling of meaninglessness” (p. 41). Consequently, in such state, people are unable to identify their individual wishes that in turn, lead them to conformity or totalitarianism. Frankl (2010) cautioned his readers that such sense of emptiness and meaninglessness are increasingly experienced by young people in the US.
Existentialism is the epitome of the unknown. There is no straightforward explanation of what exactly it is, there is only certain characteristics and behaviors that describe existentialist views. Throughout today’s world, there are examples of it everywhere, it’s found in movies, books, songs, and just people in general. Existentialists are known to think and do for themselves only. They believe that to understand what it means to be human requires understanding of themselves first. Some very well known pieces of entertainment existentialism is found in are: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Stranger by Albert Camus, and The Breakfast Club by John Hughes. The Stranger is a book written about a young man whose mother dies, which soon leads him to becoming acquainted with the feeling of not caring about what his actions do to others or himself. The main character Meursault starts helping his friend Raymond, carry out ways to torment his mistress. Out of nowhere while at the beach, Meursault shoots Raymond’s mistress’s brother. He is thrown into jail and tried, but he seems to not be affected as much as he should about his actions. He first finds it hard to live without cigarettes, women, and nature, but he soon finds out he doesn’t need any of those. After being sentenced to death, he is suggested to turn away from his atheism but later realizes that human existence has no greater meaning. This realization and acceptance is what truly makes him happy (Camus). Next, The Breakfast Club is a very relatable movie about high school students suffering the consequences of their actions in detention. The kids are all of ...
(Crowell). Ironically the authors, directors and poets would deny that they are existentialists, because they are existentialists. (Corbett) The authors continued showing features that furthered the belief of their movement. In their eyes, people are free and must take it upon themselves to make rational decisions in a chaotic universe. Existentialists believe that there is nothing more to life since life has no purpose. (Corbett) Life is just where we are right now but we have no real impact to others or this earth. It is all the same if we were dead as if we were alive. This often comes as a realization to existentialist people and often present in existentialist literature about the “reality” of life.The question comes down to, do all human beings believe that they matter in life? This question challenges existentialist belief since life has no purpose. (Corbett) How can we matter in this life if one of the main themes in existentialism is that we have no purpose, it is quite
The root of the word anarchism comes from the Greek word anarchos, which means without ruler. The main philosophy behind anarchism is that people can reside in an unregulated community with no real authority and maintain a sustainable life. Anarchists see government and capitalism as an institution that creates liberty for the rich and enslavement of the masses. Emma Goldman best describes anarchism as: The philosophy of a new social order based on liberty unrestricted by man-made law; the theory that all forms of government rest on violence and are therefore wrong and harmful, as well as unnecessary. With anarchism there is a belief that once all government is abolished by the people that everyone will come together in a community of mutual aid and understanding without laws or authority to direct.
Existentialism is a branch of philosophy mostly concerned with the ideas of choice, meaning, and the limits of existence. Existentialism denies any form of predetermined systems, for they generally imply an external source of meaning, or power. Existentialism is often misconstrued of being nihilistic (if there is no predetermined meaning, then the world is completely meaningles...
Nietzsche believed this to be a form of nihilism because mankind valued precisely what was halting his advancement. With this in mind, Nietzsche began his bold movement towards the revaluation of all values.
Nothingness is a condition man is faced with when his life has no meaning, when there is no reason to exist. It is the hollowness or emptiness man experiences when he feels that his life has no significant meaning. If there is nothing to believe in, then life is nothing. The older waiter in the story recognizes the existence of nothing: "Some lived in it and never felt it but he knew it all was nada y pues nada y pues nada y pues nada" (202). As existentialists, men are forced to make all decisions in their lives for themselves, with nothing to believe in except for the positive result of their choices. Existentialists are plagued with dread over their potential confrontation with nothingness, an anxiety that comes with the impossibility of finding ultimate justification for the choices they must make. In contrast, men of religious faith have little fear of nothingness because they believe that there is a reason behind decisions they make based on the intent of their higher power. Light, cleanliness and order play important roles in the story. The artificial light and good order of the café represent the truth, or reason for existence, that the existential man has created for himself. Darkness, in contrast, represents the nothingness of life.
To quote Fredrich Nietzche “God is dead, and we have killed him” doesn’t literally mean that an omnipotent entity was slain by humans but rather that the idea, faith or belief that once gave humans meaning and purpose no longer exists. In a way humanity has overcome their own facticities during the enlightenment period and morality becomes an individualized concept. Without an assigned meaning all that remains is moral skepticism. A subcategory of moral skepticism; Dogmatic skepticism claims “that nobody is ever justified in holding any substantive moral belief.” (Sinnott-Armstrong, 2015). If morality is to be found, it cannot be located in the physical world. Following moralities discovery, there is no absolute justification that one morality is greater than another. Therefore in applying moral skepticism to Emma’s situation we find that there is a large indifference to the actions. As there is no inherent moral compass the actions Emma commits are neutral. They aren’t done out of spite or pleasure, it is just something that is done. This conclusion falls into the ideology of skepticism with moral falsehood with claims that “every substantive moral belief is false.” (Sinnott-Armstrong, 2015). If morality exists at all, then it cannot be verified to be true by any means. This gives way to nihilism, an absolute void of meaning and morality. Much like skepticism nihilism views
These people believe that there are other ways of making things happen without having a government. Anarchist also believe that the common man, meaning the people how work and are not rich but are not poor either, should be the ones who dictate what happens and how things are done. The most known supporter of anarchism is Max Stirner. He was a German philosopher. He was basically an Egoist.