The first philosophical development of the idea of nihilism is generally attributed to Friedrich Jacobi, who in a famous letter criticized Fichte`s idealism as nihilism. According to Jacobi, the absolutization of the ego by Fichte (the “absolute self” that postulates the “non-I”) is an inflation of subjectivity that denies the absolute transcendence of God. Nihilism (from the Latin nihil, “nothing”), originally a philosophy of moral and epistemological skepticism that emerged in 19th century Russia in the early years of the reign of Tsar Alexander II. The term was used by Friedrich Nietzsche to describe the disintegration of traditional morality in Western society. Im 20. In the nineteenth century, nihilism adopted a variety of philosophical and aesthetic positions that, in one sense or another, denied the existence of genuine truths or moral values, rejected the possibility of knowledge or communication, and affirmed the ultimate insignificance of life or the universe. He notes that during the self-dissolution of Christianity, there is at least the possibility of another type of nihilist who does not stop after the destruction of all values and meaning and succumbs to the next nothingness. This alternative, “active” nihilism, on the other hand, is destroyed in order to pave the way for the construction of something new. This form of nihilism is characterized by Nietzsche as a “sign of strength”[79], a deliberate destruction of old values in order to wipe the table and establish one`s own beliefs and interpretations, as opposed to passive nihilism, which resigns itself to the disintegration of old values. This deliberate destruction of values and the overcoming of the state of nihilism by the construction of a new meaning, this active nihilism, could be linked to what Nietzsche elsewhere calls a free spirit. [31]: 43-50 or the superman of Thus Spoke Zarathustra and The Antichrist, the model of the strong individual who postulates his own values and lives his life, as if it were his own work of art. However, it is questionable whether “active nihilism” is really the correct term for this attitude, and some question whether Nietzsche takes the problems posed by nihilism seriously enough. [80] Britannica.com: Encyclopedia articles on nihilism I think with this generation, so many of their hopes have been so dashed that nihilism is really a natural reaction.
Martin Heidegger`s interpretation of Nietzsche influenced many postmodern thinkers who examined Nietzsche`s problem of nihilism. Only recently has Heidegger`s influence on Nietzschean research on nihilism faded. [81] As early as the 1930s, Heidegger lectured on Nietzsche`s thought. [82] Given the importance of Nietzsche`s contribution to nihilism, Heidegger`s influential interpretation of Nietzsche is important for the historical development of the term nihilism. The term is sometimes used in conjunction with anomie to explain the general mood of despair in the face of a perceived futility of the existence or arbitrariness of human principles and social institutions. Nihilism has also been described as remarkable or constitutive for certain historical periods. For example, Jean Baudrillard[12][13] and others characterized postmodernism as a nihilistic epoch[14] or way of thinking. [15] Similarly, some theologians and religious figures have noted that postmodernism[16] and many aspects of modernity[17] represent nihilism through a negation of religious principles. However, nihilism has been widely attributed to religious and irreligious views. [8] Nietzsche discusses Christianity, one of the main themes of his work, at length in relation to the problem of nihilism in his notebooks in a chapter entitled “European Nihilism”. [72] Here he argues that Christian moral teaching provides people with intrinsic value, faith in God (which justifies evil in the world) and a basis for objective knowledge.
In this sense, by building a world where objective knowledge is possible, Christianity is an antidote to an original form of nihilism, to the despair of insignificance. But it is precisely the element of veracity in Christian doctrine that becomes its undoing: in its quest for truth, Christianity ultimately finds itself as a construct that leads to its own dissolution. So Nietzsche says that we have surpassed Christianity, “not because we have lived too far from it, but because we have lived too close.” [73] As such, the self-dissolution of Christianity is another form of nihilism. Because Christianity was an interpretation that postulated as an interpretation, Nietzsche notes that this dissolution leads beyond skepticism to a distrust of all meaning. [74] [31]: 41-2 Religious scholars such as Altizer have noted that nihilism must necessarily be understood in terms of religion and that the study of the fundamental elements of its character requires fundamental theological consideration. [34] Nihilism is often associated with the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who provided a detailed diagnosis of nihilism as a widespread phenomenon in Western culture. Although the term appears frequently in Nietzsche`s work, he uses it in various ways, with different meanings and connotations. Journalist Malcolm Gladwell recently devoted an episode to his theory of the “attitude of nihilism” on his podcast “Revisionist History.” They often seem to be on the verge of nihilism before we even cover the program.
The intellectual origins of the Russian nihilist movement date back to 1855 and perhaps earlier,[57] when it was primarily a philosophy of extreme moral and epistemological skepticism. [58] However, it was not until 1862 that the name nihilism first became popular, when Ivan Turgenev used the term in his famous novel Fathers and Sons to describe the disillusionment of the younger generation with the progressives and traditionalists who preceded them,[59] as well as its manifestation in the idea that the negation and destruction of value were most necessary for today`s conditions. [60] The movement quickly adopted the name, despite the novel`s initial harsh reception by conservatives and the younger generation. [61] Koscheleff gave a similar explanation of nihilism in 1874. Jacques Derrida, whose deconstruction is perhaps most often described as nihilistic, did not himself take the nihilistic step that others have claimed. Derridean deconstructivists argue that this approach tends to liberate texts, individuals or organizations from a restrictive truth, and that deconstruction opens the possibility of other modes of being. [94] Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, for example, uses deconstruction to create an ethic of openness of Western science to the voice of subordinates and philosophies outside the canon of Western texts. [95] Derrida himself built a philosophy based on a “responsibility towards the other”. [96] Deconstruction cannot therefore be seen as a denial of the truth, but as a denial of our ability to know the truth. That is, it makes an epistemological claim compared to the ontological claim of nihilism. The concept of nihilism was recorded by the Buddha (563 BC to 483 BC), as recorded in Theravada and Mahayana Tripiṭaka.
[35] The Tripiṭaka, originally written in Pali, refers to nihilism as natthikavāda and the nihilistic view as micchādiṭṭhi. [36] Various sutras it contains describe a variety of views held by various sects of ascetics during the Buddha`s lifetime, some of which were considered morally nihilistic by him. In the Apannaka Sutta “doctrine of nihilism,” the Buddha describes moral nihilists with the following views:[37] In common usage, the term generally refers to forms of existential nihilism according to which life is without intrinsic value, meaning, or purpose. [18] Other important positions within nihilism are the rejection of all normative and ethical views (§ moral nihilism), the rejection of all social and political institutions (§ political nihilism), the attitude that no knowledge can exist or does not exist (§ epistemological nihilism), and a number of metaphysical positions that claim that non-abstract objects do not exist (§ metaphysical nihilism), that composite objects do not exist. exist (§ mereological nihilism), or even that life itself does not exist.
