Curated by TheCollector
Yes, conversationally, nihilism is often construe by many to be a particularly gloomy, pessimistic, cynical frame of mind. After all, in the absence of God [or His secular equivalent], what could possibly be gloomier than living in a world where all things [however horrifically construed by most] have already been rationalized by, among others, sociopaths.Nihilism was a widespread school of philosophy that emerged during the 18th and 19th centuries throughout much of Europe and beyond. Conversationally we might talk about Nihilism as a gloomy, pessimistic school, whose leaders rejected the moralism of religion, instead believing in absolutely nothing and no-one.
Or, ironically enough, by the moral objectivists. Though here, of course, the Kingdom of Ends is used to rationalize "any means necessary". That's why the Nazis were deemed to be Good by some and Evil by others. The Final Solution is actually embraced by the True Believers as a moral crusade, but perhaps the death camps themselves went too far? Or fascism is rational, but it has nothing to do with the Jews?
On the other hand, conversationally, nihilism can also be embraced in a positive and constructive manner. One can argue that it frees us from the tyranny embedded in the One True Path mentality. A nihilist is not anchored to one or another religious or ideological or deontological set of prescriptions and proscriptions. He or she can instead champion "moderation, negotiation and compromise" as a more appealing political agenda.
Here the crucial focus often revolves around different interpretations of "authenticity". For the existentialist, this often pertains to the belief that "existence is prior to essence". You are thrown out into a particular world at birth and for years those around you are intent on indoctrinating you...brainwashing you [with the best of intentions] to embrace one or another set of moral and political and spiritual dictums. Whereas true authenticity comes about only in living your own individual life and choosing for yourself that which seems more or less authentic.1] Existential Nihilism
Existential Nihilism bears some similarities with the 19th and 20th century school of Existentialism, but the two are still markedly distinct from one another. Both schools rejected religion and other authoritarian forces that had once dominated the way we lived out our lives. Existential Nihilists gloomily thought that without any moral codes to hold us in place, human life was essentially meaningless and pointless. By contrast, the Existentialists thought the individual had the power to find their own meaningful path through the absurd complexity of life, but only if they are brave enough to go out looking for it.
Okay, note some nihilists, but since there is no God or Plato or Kant around to guide you to the most rational and virtuous of behaviors, how does that not come to be embodied instead in the particular parameters of a particular life? You come to believe what you are predisposed to believe existentially and others come to completely conflicting assessments.
Then what?