Nihilism

Origins

The term nihilism (from the Latin nihil, meaning "not anything") was popularized by the Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev in his novel Fathers and Sons (1861), to describe the views of an emerging radical Russian intelligentsia. These consisted primarily of upper-class students who had grown disillusioned with the slow pace of reformism. The primary spokesman for this new philosophy was D. I. Pisarev (1840-1868) who articulated a program of Revolutionary Utilitarianism and advocated violence as a tool for social change. Pisarev was cast as Bazarov in Fathers and Sons much to his own delight; he proudly embraced his new status as a fictional hero and villian.

The word quickly became a catch-all term of derision for younger, more radical generations, and continues in this vein to modern times. It is often used to indicate a group or philosophy the speaker intends to characterize as having no moral sensibility, no belief in truth, beauty, love, or whatever else the speaker and his presumed audience values, and no regard for the current social conventions.

Political philosophy

As a Russian political philosophy, marked by the questioning of the validity of all forms of authority and a penchant for destruction as the primary tool for political change, Nihilism finds its roots in 1817 with the foundation of the first Russian secret political society under Pavel Pestel. Partly as a reaction against the coronation of Tsar Nicholas I who was seen as an absolutist, especially after the comparatively open reign of Tsar Alexander I, it culminated in the Decembrist Revolt of 1825. Later, anarchist and freemason Mikhail Bakunin developed nihilist thought in opposition to Karl Marx's political philosophy, which Bakunin saw as inevitably leading to a totalitarian state.

Nihilist political philosophy rejected all religious and political authority, social traditions and traditional morality as standing in opposition to freedom, the ultimate ideal. In this sense, it can be seen as an extreme form of anarchism. The state thus became the enemy, and the enemy was ferociously attacked. After gaining much momentum in Russia, the movement degenerated into what were essentially terrorist cells, barren of any real unifying philosophy beyond the call for destruction.

Nihilism greatly resembled anarchism, though there are three main points of difference:

1. Nihilism advocated violence as the best method to affect political change. This is not necessarily the case with anarchism (see Emma Goldman).
2. Nihilism was characterized by a rejection or extreme skepticism of all systems of authority and all social conventions. This is not necessarily the case with anarchism. In fact, many forms of anarchism rely on the existence or creation of a strong community.
3. As a political movement, nihilism was primarily a Russian phenomenon.

Nihilism in philosophy

As a philosophical view, nihilism represents an extreme form of skepticism or relativism with regards to the knowability of truth and the legitimacy of claims to knowledge. According to the nihilist, the world and especially human existence are without meaning, purpose or essential value.

Postmodernism and the breakdown of knowledge

Postmodern thought is colored by the perception of a degeneration of systems of epistemology and ethics, especially evident in the writings of Jean-Francois Lyotard and Jacques Derrida. Postmodern philosophy tends to deny the very grounds on which we base our truths: absolute knowledge and meaning, the accumulation of positive knowledge, historical progress and the ideals of humanism.

Lyotard and meta-narratives

Lyotard argues that, rather than relying on an objective truth or method to prove their claim (logic, empiricism, etc.), philosophies legitimize their truths by reference to a story about the world which is inseparable from the age and system the stories belong to. Lyotard calls them meta-narratives (similar to language games in Wittgensteinean terminology). He then goes on to define the postmodern condition as one characterized by a rejection both of these meta-narratives and of the process of legitimization by meta-narratives.

In lieu of meta-narratives we have created new language-games in order to legitimize our claims which rely on changing relationships and mutable truths, none of which is privileged over the other to speak to ultimate truth. It is this unstable idea of truth and meaning that leads one close to nihilism, though in the same move that plunges toward meaninglessness, Lyotard suspends philosophy just above its surface.

Derrida and deconstruction

1. Rejection of the law of the excluded middle
2. Perfect communication is impossible – meaning is not absolute.
3. non-self-identity: author’s intentions don’t match meaning in works
4. complexity: excluded middle forces model of simplicity onto a complex world

Nihilism and Nietzsche

Though frequently characterized as a nihilist, Friedrich Nietzsche strongly placed himself opposite nihilism, advocating a remedy or solution for its destructive effects, a position especially apparent in his works Also Sprach Zarathustra and The Antichrist.

1. why is Nietzsche called a nihilist?
   1. misapplication of the word
   2. the amoral philosopher
   3. Christianity and nihilism : "God is dead!"
2. what is nihilism to Nietzsche? : Rejection of life - Geneology of Morals, Zarathustra.
   1. what is the threat? : The withering of the human spirit.
   2. what is morality to Nietzsche? : Christian morality is slave morality, the ancient Greeks had master morality (Nietzsche's preference).
   3. Christianity and nihilism revisited : Christianity is nihilism, leads to absolute nihilism and the death of the human.
3. what can be done about it?
   1. the Übermensch and the will to power

The nihilist paradox

Nihilism is often associated with a belief in the nonexistence of truth. In its most extreme form, such a belief is difficult to justify, because it contains a variation on the liar paradox: if it is true that truth does not exist, the statement "truth does not exist" is a truth, thereby proving itself incorrect. A more sophisticated interpretation of the claim might be that while truth may exist, it is inaccessible in practice. This avoids the immediate contradiction, but still does not avoid the problem of how to evaluate the claim.

Related topics

anarchism and violence, anti-realism, cynicism, historical origins of anarchism, ontological distinction, paradox, solipsism, Max Stirner

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Nihilism
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Nihilism

References

Nietzsche, Friedrich (1886). Beyond Good and Evil. Project Gutenburg eText.