Nihilism

a reply to: SystemResistor
How do you define "nihilism?" What makes you think our fate is oblivion?

So I think that many of you guys have a slight misunderstanding of what nihilism refers to, and implies. It seems that for the most part, the consensus so far attributes a negative connotation associated with the meaning. So while many of you have correctly stated that nihilism is the view that everything is meaningless, it seems to me that the word "meaningless" is being used to suggest "negative" or "bad." However, what the word "meaningless" here implies is a much more literal definition--that is, literally "without meaning." Nihilism does not make claims about the world , it makes claims about claims made about the world. We can use moral nihilism as an example. This is the claim that nothing is inherently 'good' or 'bad.' The basis of moral nihilism is the suggestion that "good" and "bad" are not objective features of the this world. Rather, they are concepts contrived by humans. It's important to realize that a moral nihilism does NOT claim that morality is worthless, in fact it's perfectly acceptable for a moral nihilist to accept that the practice of morality is actually a helpful construct in society. They simply do not believe that anything is objectively "good or "bad."

a reply to: kayej1188

I think you made a really good point here. The hard core punk nihilists types I remember had a middle finger to the world and had a violent attitude toward the norms of society, but like you point out, there doesn't have to be any attitude attached to nihilism.

The punks were lashing out and being overly dramatic to try and prove their point, of course a true nihilist understood even that had no real meaning. It is a huge personal conflict to discard meaning in life, but value is different. Just because everything is ultimately meaningless, doesn't mean somethings don't have value to humans living in this society at this moment.

ETA: For an example, where would those hard core punkers be without ripped up hand-me-down jeans, safety pins, electric guitars, and the genre of rock music that they would destroy on stage with every performance? They must have believed that these tactics had value when they were trying to show how meaningless these things really were.

a reply to: kayej1188
So do you think nihilism is valid? What are its social effects if any, on society?

a reply to: satsanga

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the feeling that you have an assigned paper on nihilism in which you are to explain what nihilism is and then speak on whether it's valid or not in addition to its social effects, if any.

a reply to: kayej1188

You are wrong.