The Destructive Philosophy - My View On Nihilism

[curiousnorway]

PS! This is a MyTake about nihilism and it shouldn't be confused with atheism (lack of belief in deities). It's two different things. Although many nihilists are atheists don't mean every atheists are nihilists.

Nihilism: There's no meaning with life. Life is meaningless.

What nihilism is:

Existential nihilism = The belief in that our existence and our life don't have any objective meaning or significance, but that everything exists out of randomness. Some nihilists goes further and think the meanings with life humans creates are a false illusion in the meaninglessness.

Moral nihilism = The belief in that what's right and wrong aren't objective in addition to moral and ethics are man made. Without humans there would be no moral or ethics. The belief in moral relativism.

My view on nihilism:

Ambitions, goals and achievements is about the meaningfulness with it.

When I'm talking with people I've noticed one thing most people have in common. It's ambitions. They wants to achieve a goal. Another thing I've noticed is that people also do what they likes to do and tries to do it as often as they can because it simply gives them a meaning. A meaning is important and without a meaning - people wouldn't be motivated to continue doing what they're doing. It's the need of a meaning that has continued the humanity's development.

Without a meaning, an idea behind something and a motivation people would easier give up and then there wouldn't be as well-developed technology or society as we have today many places around the globe. The concept of having a purpose is there for a reason. From an evolutionary perspective it would make sense to have the concept as development and survival of our specie.

Scientifically, medically and technologically advancement wouldn't be there if there were no meaning behind it.

Whatever if you're religious or not, theist or atheist - most of you think there's a meaning with life or something meaningful in it. Both people with and without god(s) finds significance in their life. It may be family, friends, school, job and all the other relationships, experiences and adventures you may have in life. Meaningfulness gives happiness and productivity.

Nihilism are a dangerous philosophy in my opinion. People who claims they're nihilists and lives a happy life with something they finds significant like their family, friends, hobbies etc. are people I doubt are truly nihilists. They've a meaning with their life, so can they be considered true nihilists? In this take I'm talking about true nihilists, not people who believes they're nihilists when they're not.

Why nihilism is a dangerous philosophy is because of the human race are depended on meaningfulness and without any meaningfulness motivation, happiness and a reason to wake up each morning would decrease. It can lead to depression. It's not the lack of belief in god or an afterlife that's making nihilism dangerous and really bad, but it's the mindset about the lives they lives right here and now that makes it dangerous.

without a meaning, people wouldn't be motivated to continue doing what they're doing

If life has no meaning, why should I and you wake up and do something? What's the point of having a job and an education then? What's the point of doing something for yourself and everyone else's? What's the point of breathing? With that mindset life has no meaning and everything is pointless. Nothing matter. You can't say "I climbed the mountain because it was fun", because then things have a meaning and therefor life gets a meaning. Again, that's not nihilism.

In nihilism nothing matter. So if you gave hundred bucks to a charity or stabbed your neighbor, it doesn't matter. If you helped an old woman to cross the street or raped the guy next to you, it doesn't matter. Nothing has a value in life, so why bothering yourself caring about it? Many nihilists believes after death we would all decease to exist and there's no point of the humanity to exist in the first place. All these thoughts can come in mind to a truly nihilist. Nihilism aren't criticized without a reason.

In my honest opinion there's no such thing as optimistic nihilism as this video claims. In the end of the video they're talking about meaningfulness in life which is ironic.

My personal experience with it:

It was so frustrating.

I've been an existential nihilist in the past. I wasn't a regular atheist then. I didn't believe in a meaning with life. I thought we only existed a moment, but we wouldn't exist before or after the moment. I believed every single thing I did was meaningless. I saw how the other people around me got born, then started in school and after finishing their education they started working until they became retired and then died. Many of them married, got children - putting new people in the same loop and some also bought themselves a dog. The all ordinary things in the typically pattern. Was that all?

I was often bored and stressed. I didn't knew what I should do, where I was supposed to go and so on. After talking with my closest one they shared their views on life and it's meaning. My life as a nihilist didn't last long. I was only a nihilist for less than a year and I realized there were no shame to change the direction and my belief system. I sought help and in the end I finally de-converted from this view. I believe people should be allowed to believe what they wants to, but certain belief systems aren't for everyone and some of them are philosophies or beliefs that I in general speaking finds unhealthy and dangerous. Believe what you want to, but I do definitively recommend you to think something has a meaning and positive thinking.

Thanks God I'm not a nihilist anymore! ; )

#Nihilism #Philosophy

[Chrysis]

Welp, I'm the other side of the story. I'm a moral nihilist & lately, my bff has taken to calling me a mini-Nietzsche, lol.

In the end, it all depends on what you do with the things presented to you. What you make out of it. Does anyone of us matter in the great picture? Nope. Your existence is as meaningless to me as is mine to you. & that's fine because that's the way things are. You're right in that it's a dangerous path that can lead to depression, but it doesn't have to.

I'll just keep doing whatever I want to because I gotta pass the time until I die some way, might as well make it something fun. Whether I live or die doesn't truly matter in the end anyway, so... whatever. :D

[curiousnorway]

Why do nihilists wake up each morning if life has no meaning? It sounds like you've some meaning in life since you're so motivated.

[Chrysis]

Welp, they're still human, aren't they, & humans wake up after they've slept enough. That's all there is to it.

How do I sound motivated?

[curiousnorway]

Because you wants to continue life to do something fun. "Waking up each morning" is a phrase meaning "Motivated to continue living the life" in this context.

[Chrysis]

Nah. I don't really care whether I'll die next week or in fifty years. What happens, happens. I'm just passing time until then.

[Unit1]

Pretty much this!

[JudgmentDay]

@Chrysis "I don't really care whether I'll die next week or in fifty years. What happens, happens. I'm just passing time until then."

Now that is what I would call an ABSOLUTELY FUCKING FANTASTIC RESPONSE!! BRAVO!! 👏 👏 👏

[Chrysis]

@JudgmentDay Thanks. :D

[JudgmentDay]

@Chrysis We're all pretty much doing something to pass the time until our time is up and since that's inevitable either way which is why we do what we do or we'll become stagnant and bored constantly.

[Chrysis]

@JudgmentDay True, but that's also where at least I see the difference; I'm not deluding myself into thinking that my life has any meaning whatsoever. Sure, people can think & strive to do something meaningful or useful when they want. However, I prefer settling with the truth that this highly unlikely & will thus not even pretend to be of any consequence to anything.

As it was sung in Teddie's Existential Kid's Korner: Your futile existence has no meaning~

[JudgmentDay]

@Chrysis Interesting... There's a song like that? Really? I'm gonna have to look it up and listen to it some time LOL I'll let you know what I thought of it after listening to it.

[JudgmentDay]

@Chrysis It turned out to be just a short tune from a web comic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW7dEz8We9c But it's all good!

[Chrysis]

@JudgmentDay Yep, lol. Ik almost know that shit by heart.

[JudgmentDay]

@Chrysis What's your take on anti-natalism btw? What do you think of it?

[Chrysis]

@JudgmentDay In general, I don't really care what people do. They can think or believe whatever they want- as long as they don't try to force that on my, of course.

But in this case... I'm guessing I'm somewhere between these & your 'general' nihilist, albeit for different reasons. They're right in that clinging onto the bad things is BS, though in my case it's more about practicality. Being mad or upset or sad won't change things anyway, so why bother being like that? Laughing is much more fun.

[WhiteKite]

"... The belief in that our existence and our life don't have any objective meaning or significance..."
So what about subjective meaning? You argue that nihilism causes the lack of reason to get up in the morning, why would that require objective meaning? My life has no meaning and there was no reason for me being born, I still like listening to music and eat food. I will die soon, so will everyone else. No one cared to put you here, except maybe your parents, no one will care when you're dead, we learn to move on. You're irrelevant. But why not enjoy it while it lasts?

[JudgmentDay]

"But why not enjoy it while it lasts?"

See, that's the spirit! You only live once better make the most of this limited time offer, because it's not going to remain around forever or last forever.

[ladsin]

I think the problem here is largely a matter of semantics. At the end of the day I agree that our lives don't have any cosmic purpose. The sun doesn't care whether or not I live or die, right? That is irrelevant though. My life has purpose and meaning because I consider it purposeful and meaningful. I enjoy life because of my friends, family, and fellows who enrich my life and I in turn hope to enrich theirs.

This is frequently called positive nihilism I think.

[HopelessPaul]

Wouldn't that be existentialism, actually? In the sense you build a purpose.

[ladsin]

@HopelessPaul Sure

[Investigator]

Nihilism is the kind of philosophy that leads to the question "should I kill myself", because it implies that nothing you do, have done or ever will do has any significance in the grand arc of existence. If the Earth disappeared tomorrow, all of humanity would disappear with it and then... nothing. That's something the human ego has a hard time grasping, that it doesn't matter. Even if we aren't the center of the universe, we are the center of OUR universe, we are the epicenter of our own existence (which inevitably leads to solipsism, which is worse than nihilism) and no amount of hard work or suffering makes our joy or pain convey any more point to reality. For example, science isn't true because we say it is, it is true because it supposedly mirrors the natural world as we observe it. In the absence of our ability to observe scientific study, the reality that leads to scientific observation remains.

That's probably why organizations like the Flat Earth society believe the universe ends at the firmament several miles above the Earth: if there is no "out there", then there is only "in here". It makes us special, because we are alone and nothing outside of us exists (again, as a species, not as individuals). The other thing is that most people see nihilism as that edgy "life is pain and misery" philosophy of emo, try-hard goth kids who seem to have nothing going for them. It conveys hopelessness and suffering, because without SOME point, some reason, why bother? Who cares, if we don't?

[Alessus]

I think that objective is the operative word here. I think that there is no objective meaning to my life, because there is nothing that can give an objective meaning to it. I don't believe in god/gods or other types of spiritualism, so therefore I don't believe that there is any authority that can say what is objectively meaningful and objectively not meaningful. That however doesn't mean that what I subjectively find meaningful is counter to a nihilistic worldview. For example, I consider honor and integrity to be meaningful to me, but I don't think they are objectively meaningful, because I think that 50 years after my death whether or not I was an honorable person is entirely meaningless to everyone and everything. Nor do I think that what I find meaningful is or should be meaningful to everyone else, so I'm not trying to insert my subjective view of what is and isn't meaningful as the objective standard.

So personally I don't see how that clashes with existential nihilism, as I fully recognize that what I value isn't objectively meaningful, but it's subjectively meaningful to me and since I am alive then doesn't it make sense that I pursue things that are subjectively meaningful to me? Because after all, their meanigfulness ends when I die, but before that they hold meaning to me therefore are worth pursuing.

[Unit1]

Well, well. I figured when you were talking about nihilism you'd invite me.
And the first things, that I have noticed is that you got the definition of nihilism a bit wrong.
Yes, we do think, that life is without any purpose, without any meaning and that there is no god and that nothing really matters.
No, just because we can experience emotions, pain, joy, sadness, depression, shock, awe and fun (since those are bodily functions/reactions in the brain) doesn't mean we can't nihilists. We are not exactly dead but not exactly alive either.

"If life has no meaning, why should I and you wake up and do something? What's the point of having a job and an education then? What's the point of doing something for yourself and everyone else's? What's the point of breathing?"

All irrelevant. For us nihilists it doesn't matter. Yet we still do things and don't do things. We don't require a reason for what we do or don't do because ultimately nothing matters. Some of these are natural coping mechanisms (I doubt there is someone, who died by voluntarily stopping breathing compared to actually drowning in water). With my friend @JudgmentDay we are telling ourselves the same.

If you remember one of my early mytakes, I have explained how it is to be an emotionless robot here:

What it's Like Being an Emotionless Robot ↗

You seem to be overthinking it a little bit. Maybe you have had a different experience being a former nihilist. That would explain things.
My advise? Take a step back and ask the right questions rather than trying to debunk what is actually looking like nonsense.

[JudgmentDay]

@Unit1 Now that is what I call a fucking awesome response :-D ! Just for what you had said, I have to give you Big round of applause 👏👏👏for you for this one bro!

[Unit1]

@JudgmentDay i knew you'd love my response bro 😎
High five 🤚

[Kuraj]

Nihilism doesn't have to be destructive, in fact it shouldn't be.
Also, nihilism doesn't say that you can't do things for "fun".
If you give meaning to something you do, that doesn't mean you stop being a nihilist.

Being a nihilist simply means to understand that you doing things "for fun" has no real value.
You, as an individual don't matter, because ultimately, the reality will just keep on unraveling itself, completely indifferent to what you decide to do with your life.

What that means, to me personally, is tranquility.
If nothing has meaning, then I feel at peace.
I don't have to look for "meaning" in life, I don't have to worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will come either way.

Knowing that truly nothing has meaning, gives you the freedom to do things that *have meaning for you*, because you don't have to be tormented about whether you made the right choice, since no choice has any more meaning than the other.
In the end, all that nihilism is actually about, is the individual and self-ownership.

Of course, people handle this realization differently.
Albert Camus proposes the pursuit of meaning despite the realization of nothing having meaning.
J-P Sartre and Soren Kierkegaard instead embrace the idea of self-ownership and individualism, proposing that if man is truly "nothing", then he can be anything he wants to be.

Some nihilists do spiral down the route of pessimism, however.
Emil Cioran, for example, seemed quite unhappy about life.

Also your "What's the point of continue life if there were no meaning?" is a commonly debated point.
But it is anti-nihilistic, because a true nihilist who sees no point in life, will also see no point in death.
It is a refusal of freedom, an escape much like religion or delusions.
Suicide isn't for nihilists, it is for people who try to look for meaning but fail finding it.

[Cccgala]

Come to think of it, everything technically is meaningless because no one can provide objective answers to your questions.

The "meaning-making" is up to us. People are free to delude their lives with a 'purpose' that becomes irrelevant with the course of time; conversely, people are free to question the customs incorporated in existing while satiating the demands of today and tomorrow with no further contemplations.

Do people need philosophical reasons (meanings) for the most rudimentary bodily functions such as breathing? If my memory serves me right, breathing, for the most part, is an involuntary reflex that is prompted by the respiratory system.

[curiousnorway]

I think you interpreted some parts of my text too literally. With "What's the point of breathing?" I meant "What's the point of continue life if there were no meaning?".

[Cccgala]

Because those two questions ask for two vastly different concepts, I was not able to decode a tinge of existential contemplation from an inquiry concerning breathing. I think that is not my fault.

Things do not really matter in the end; however, they are deemed important for the time being because of immediate need. 'Importance' is not synonymous to 'meaning'. A task may be important to meet objectives, despite the task being bound to be meaningless in the long term. Climbing a mountain as a group may be deemed important as a task that meets objectives such as viewing the scenery at high altitudes; however, its relevance ceases as new tasks are undertaken. Hence, there seems no meaning that will stand timeless, to begin with, since humans are bound to die themselves.

[JudgmentDay]

@Cccgala I LIKE THE WAY YOU THINK ABOUT THIS!

[JudgmentDay]

What exactly is it that you are willing to do now? Have you figured out what your goals and purpose in life is yet? In the end, we should just let it go, there's very little to absolutely no control that we have over what happens or can happen. Just deal with it the best you could with what you got and take it one step at a time and one day at a time. No point of fretting worrying about it all constantly. I've kind of realized, well, it doesn't have to matter at all or have a meaning at all. Who said that it absolutely had to have a meaning? And even if they did, do you trust them and live by and conform to what their definition for what life's or existence's meaning is? Just live and let live or live and let die, whichever, however. If you're here, then you're already on a time limit either way. Can't rewind, can't go back or take back and undo mistakes, so live and learn.

[Deathraider]

Well there's a flawed assumption that just because there isn't objective meaning that there isn't meaning. Meaning can be subjective. I don't think the universe has an objective moral or objective meaning, even if 100% of people agree on one. It's important to understand objective. Objective is like saying the car is red. That's a quality of the car, and is objective. Subjective is saying the car is the best. That exist within your own mind and isn't the quality of the ball. Now evilness isn't a quality someone is, but how we view it. I mean look at World War 1. Both side thought they were right and the other side is wrong.
Same thing for meaning.

[MeutiaArianti]

Thank you for sharing this opinion with us, now I know more about Nihilism.

[curiousnorway]

You're Welcome.

[madhatters4]

good post. always enjoy a philosophical discussion

[CaptainSmartass]

Very interesting. Although it is rather depressing.

Simples...

[Anonymous]

Well, my life is kinda useless, so I guess I'm a nihilist.

[Anonymous]

Good take. Nihilism is so depressing.

[Anonymous]

loved reading this, thanks bud

[Anonymous]

I am a nihilist to the point where I want to be above humanity aka, the Ubermensch.

[AlexEfron]

Nice :) like it

[curiousnorway]

What do you think about nihilism?

[AlexEfron]

I didn't know much about nihilism. But after reading this, I'd agree with you that not having a positive attitude towards life can he frustrating and unhealthy as well. And of course it's upto the person whether he/she wants to continue with all the negativity and meaninglessness or be rather hopeful and try to better their life.

[CoffeeWC]

According to this, I am a nihilist