Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dizzi90 on February 11, 2010 at 12:17am

There is no point in writing a book on nihilism.

Permalink Reply by Silenus on February 11, 2010 at 12:19am

i know because it does not exist

Permalink Reply by Dizzi90 on February 11, 2010 at 12:32am

And if it does it's pointless.

Permalink Reply by Silenus on February 11, 2010 at 1:22am

everything is pointless, to a certain degree

Permalink Reply by Mike Donohoe on February 17, 2010 at 10:11am

Something I've been pondering lately is that everything is pointless unless perhaps there is validity to the subjective. The amount of duality in nature is astonishing; positive and negative particles, plants and animals interdependent on one another's atmosphere; male and female; action and reaction; particles and waves; order, and disorder; life, and death; day and night; generally speaking two eyes, ears, arms, legs, two testes and two ovaries, and the two halves of the brain, and there are more.

Objective and subjective. Reductionism can as it does so well label and dismiss the subjective as a result of natural selection that propels evolution forward, by which I mean evolution in the biological sense although I think all energy evolves prior to and apart from what biologists define as life. The objective is about mechanistic comprehension and the subjective is about bothering to face the day. Could there be more to the subjective element than that? If you look at it in a purely objective sense you may well think not, but my tendency is to feel that it is there for a greater reason than the justification of biological evolution.

Language can be insufficient in this but to get the gist of the concept across, I think there is a duality in atheism and theism as well, with validity on both sides of that coin. Anyone care for a can of worms? =)

Permalink Reply by Brooke Bender on August 26, 2010 at 12:35am

Some nihilist thought about writing one, but then they asked, what's the point?

Bad joke aside, Nietzsche discusses nihilists and why they suck in his books, forget which ones.

Permalink Reply by Solomon on November 6, 2010 at 4:29pm

it is disappointing that even in a free thinking online community that there is still a slight lack in open mindedness. you would think with how atheist were treated historically that there would be a bit more understanding rather then turn straight to the dictionary definition which i doubt was made by a nihilist.

a nihilist is not devoid of value; instead he knows that his values lack objective value and are entirely proprietary. having values does not invalidate me as a nihilist -- i am human and not a computer. instead, i know that my values and opinions are just subjective and they are not founded in the objective world.
and a nihilist does not reject or refuse to accept meaning. they just accept that meaning is subjective. nihilism for me cuts off all the bullshit "wires" that find their way to my mind. it reminds me of the world and the universe for what they actually are: a complex biological system in which i and all of us are a part of, i can still identify my passions, desires, and what i despise but they are created from me. people often misinterpret nihilism to be fatalistic and all is lost its not.

i have come to the conclusion that i am going to hell in multiple religions. those in these religions as well as others have also told me before that nihilism is not only an impossibility but that is what i be that i should be miserable and want to kill myself. it’s kind of like saying hey you know that a note on a piano is just vibrations traveling over air particles into your ear to tiny hairs which send signals to your brain etc right? i guess i just ruined music for you; you should never listen to it again.

from nothingness to nothingness, existence is strictly arbitrary. just because i realize this doesn’t mean that i should end it all now, why not stick around and see how our next few trips around the sun turn out.

check out the counter order, its easy to find with google you just scroll down a bit. i respect your point of view, don't you think you should respect mine?

Permalink Reply by David S. on September 2, 2011 at 12:22pm

Thank you.  I was hoping that someone would post that would give nihilism due treatment or at least acknowledge it as potentially valid, instead of casual dismissing it.

Also glad you made the distinction that it simply denies meaning in the objective, as opposed to the perpetuated stigma of it being the lament of the hopeless.

cheers

Permalink Reply by Rob H on December 1, 2011 at 12:10am

I recently deduced that I am a nihilist of sorts. It has felt a bit overwhelming, but your words really helped me. Part of me felt this way, but I needed to know that others are in the same boat. I'm an instantiation of the human species. The things that seem to matter to me come from both my physical composition and the experiences I have had and how they were reinforced for me (the nature/nurture stuff). I have been an atheist for many years but have been "in the attic" (my term for being "in the closet" as an atheist). I am evaluating still what it means to be a nihilist. Reading the thoughts of others is helping. Thanks.

Permalink Reply by Arcus on September 2, 2011 at 12:48pm

Kafka, Dostojevskij and Tolstoj come highly recommended. And when you are ready to take a plunge into full blown absurdism then Camus is great.

The character "The Comedian" in Watchmen is also pretty well written nihilist, as well as "Tyler Durden" in Fightclub.