Nihilism
Notes
Nihilism is a moral view in which morality doesn't exist. Not to be confused with Relativism, which says that what considers good or bad is dependent on the viewer. Nihilism stresses that morality itself is a Social Construct that shouldn't exist. According to nihilism, perceptions of good and bad are useless, they mislead us more than they provide relevant rules or knowledge about human behavior.
The nihilist often doesn't have any internal reasons to act, since he knows that there is no meaning out there, no external reason can exist that pushes him to action, and that any Moral reasons is a fabrication that has no valid basis.
Nihilism is problematic due to:
- Without a why, what's left? - Having no purpose in life often leads to Depression, because we can't operate in life without a sense of purpose, thinking that everything is meaningless like being in Truman's show. It alienates us from the world, making it impossible for us to have a Life's Mission, and brings a melancholic Indifference to how we think and act.
- It rejects usefulness - Even if morality is a social construct, why does that entail that it's useless? Money is a social construct yet we won't say no to a suitcase of 1 million dollars just because "money has no intrinsic value" Pragmatism.
- It turns us into objects - without Subjectivity, all that's left is Objectivity. Without a reason to fulfill our Will to Power, we will forever be the same, doing nothing of meaning, just "surviving" without thriving, because any attempt to be more means that there is something worth pursuing Fixed Mindset
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🔼Topic:: Existentialism (MOC) 🔗Link::