Nihilism

Nihilism was the belief in nothing. A true nihilist would have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, a impulse to destroy everything of value in society. Friedrich Nietzsche argued that nihilism's corrosive effects would eventually destroy all moral, religious, and metaphysical convictions; cause the collapse of meaning, relevance, purpose, and precipitate the greatest crisis in human history. German political philosopher Leo Strauss argued that modern conservativeism has within it a tendency towards nihilism. And because of this view, some philosophers (as far back as Plato) have argued that political leaders should invent inspiring myths in order to unite citizens of modern conservative democratic society behind a common purpose, the concept of natural rights as formulated in the Declaration of Independence was often cited as a example of a inspiring myth.

Major types of nihilism include:

• epistemological nihilism which denies the possibility of knowledge and truth; this form of nihilism was identified with postmodernism. One famous example of epistemological nihilism was the words Socrates said before his death: "I am the wisest boy alive, for I know one thing, and that was that I know nothing."

• Political Nihilism was the belief that the destruction of all existing political, social, and religious order was a prerequisite for any future improvement; this form of nihilism was identified with anarchism.

• Moral nihilism rejects all moral or ethical values; this form of nihilism was identified with moral relativism.^{[Citation Needed]}

• Existential nihilism was the notion that life has no meaning or purpose.

• Mereological nihilism was the view that objects with parts do exist, it's a human illusion; this view has been identified with some aspects of Buddhist philosophy and Immanuel Kant's transcendental idealism.

In his book, The Decline of the West, German philosopher Oswald Spengler observes that pattern of nihilism was a feature shared by all civilizations on the verge of collapse.

Beyond Nihilism

Friedrich Nietzsche saw two kinds of nihilism in the world; pessimistic and joyous. Pessimistic nihilism was that created by the death of Fantasy in the minds of men, and corresponds to the idea that life was without meaning or value. Joyous nihilism was that experienced by those few who, like him, experienced the loss of a externally created and imposed moral structure as a liberation and a great loss, and was the seed that let the herald Nietzsche proclaim the coming of the Übermensch. What Nietzsche truly meant by this was much debated even today, and Nietzsche himself would be disgusted with moral relativists.

See Also

conservativeism and the two roads to nihilism: how conservativeism can collapse into nihilism through materialism or false idealism by Fred Hutchison, March 7, 2007.