What is the best definition of nihilism?
What is the best definition of nihilism?
Definition of nihilism 1a : a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless Nihilism is a condition in which all ultimate values lose their value.— Ronald H. Nash. b : a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths.
Who is called as the father of nihilism?
Nihilism has existed in one form or another for hundreds of years, but is usually associated with Friedrich Nietzsche, the 19th century German philosopher (and pessimist of choice for high school kids with undercuts) who proposed that existence is meaningless, moral codes worthless, and God is dead.
Is nihilism a philosophical concept?
Nihilism is a continental philosophy (a philosophical ideal that originated in Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries) that posits that everything is meaningless. While there are multiple positions and variations on nihilism, they all work around this premise of pervasive pointlessness and no purpose to life.
Which philosopher was a nihilist?
philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
Nihilism is often associated with the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who provided a detailed diagnosis of nihilism as a widespread phenomenon of Western culture. Though the notion appears frequently throughout Nietzsche’s work, he uses the term in a variety of ways, with different meanings and connotations.
What’s the opposite of nihilism?
Existentialism
So Existentialism is the opposite of nihilism: the nihilist says “There is no god, no heaven or hell, so screw it: there can be no right or wrong.
What was Nietzsche’s contribution to philosophy?
Nietzsche often thought of his writings as struggles with nihilism, and apart from his critiques of religion, philosophy, and morality he developed original theses that have commanded attention, especially perspectivism, the will to power, eternal recurrence, and the superman.
Is Nietzsche a nihilist or existentialist?
Arthur Schopenhauer, Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche further expanded on these ideas, and Nietzsche, particularly, has become a major figure in existential nihilism. The atheistic existentialist movement spread in 1940s France.