Nileism: The Strange Course of the Blue Nile

Product Information

In the Alagaddupama Sutta, the Buddha describes how some individuals feared his teaching because they believe that their self would be destroyed if they followed it. He describes this as an anxiety caused by the false belief in an unchanging, everlasting self. All things are subject to change and taking any impermanent phenomena to be a self causes suffering. Nonetheless, his critics called him a nihilist who teaches the annihilation and extermination of an existing being. The Buddha's response was that he only teaches the cessation of suffering. When an individual has given up craving and the conceit of 'I am' their mind is liberated, they no longer come into any state of ' being' and are no longer born again. [39] Nietzsche characterized nihilism as emptying the world and especially human existence of meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value. This observation stems in part from Nietzsche's perspectivism, or his notion that "knowledge" is always by someone of some thing: it is always bound by perspective, and it is never mere fact. [73] Rather, there are interpretations through which we understand the world and give it meaning. Interpreting is something we can not go without; in fact, it is a condition of subjectivity. One way of interpreting the world is through morality, as one of the fundamental ways that people make sense of the world, especially in regard to their own thoughts and actions. Nietzsche distinguishes a morality that is strong or healthy, meaning that the person in question is aware that he constructs it himself, from weak morality, where the interpretation is projected on to something external. usually uncountable ) The rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, ( inherent or objective) moral principles, legal rules, etc., often due to the view that life is meaningless (sense 1). whether there is an external world. In contrast, this form of argument is not subject to such objections when it is applied to morality, because some people really do

Nihilism vs Pessimism: 5 Key Differences for Better Perspectives Nihilism vs Pessimism: 5 Key Differences for Better Perspectives

countable , uncountable , philosophy ) A doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life; in particular, the view that nothing in the world actually exists. Heidegger, in his interpretation of Nietzsche, has been inspired by Ernst Jünger. Many references to Jünger can be found in Heidegger's lectures on Nietzsche. For example, in a letter to the rector of Freiburg University of November 4, 1945, Heidegger, inspired by Jünger, tries to explain the notion of " God is dead" as the "reality of the Will to Power." Heidegger also praises Jünger for defending Nietzsche against a too biological or anthropological reading during the Nazi era. [90] Bhikkhu, Thanissaro (1999). " 'This fire that has gone out... in which direction from here has it gone?' ". Mind Like Fire Unbound (Fourthed.) . Retrieved 24 June 2019– via Accesstoinsight.org. Anton Chekhov portrayed nihilism when writing Three Sisters. The phrase "what does it matter" or variants of this are often spoken by several characters in response to events; the significance of some of these events suggests a subscription to nihilism by said characters as a type of coping strategy. From the time of Jacobi, the term almost fell completely out of use throughout Europe until it was revived by Russian author Ivan Turgenev, who brought the word into popular use with his 1862 novel Fathers and Sons, leading many scholars to believe he coined the term. [27] The nihilist characters of the novel define themselves as those who "deny everything", who do "not take any principle on faith, whatever reverence that principle may be enshrined in", and who regard "at the present time, negation is the most useful of all". [28] Despite Turgenev's own anti-nihilistic leanings, many of his readers likewise took up the name of nihilist, thus ascribing the Russian nihilist movement its name. [29] Nihilism was further discussed by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who used the term to describe the Western world's disintegration of traditional morality. [30] For Nietzsche, nihilism applied to both the modern trends of value-destruction expressed in the ' death of God', as well as what he saw as the life-denying morality of Christianity. [31] [32] Under Nietzsche's profound influence, the term was then further treated within French philosophy and continental philosophy more broadly, while the influence of nihilism in Russia arguably continued well into the Soviet era. [33]Robert] Jenson observes that treating "other animals like humans is also to treat humans like other animals… Anthropological nihilism[seems] relatively harmless in… the 'animal rights' movement, but has been tested in frightful adult practice," e.g., Nazi socialism, or modern anthropological nihilisms evident in abortion on demand, euthanasia, and infanticide. a b c Veit, Walter (2018). "Existential Nihilism: The Only Really Serious Philosophical Problem". Journal of Camus Studies: 211–236. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.26965.24804. Bhikkhu Bodhi. "Pali-English Glossary" and "Index of Subjects." In The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Samyutta Nikkaya.

NIHILIST | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary NIHILIST | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

Heidegger's method of researching and teaching Nietzsche is explicitly his own. He does not specifically try to present Nietzsche as Nietzsche. He rather tries to incorporate Nietzsche's thoughts into his own philosophical system of Being, Time and Dasein. [85] In his Nihilism as Determined by the History of Being (1944–46), [86] Heidegger tries to understand Nietzsche's nihilism as trying to achieve a victory through the devaluation of the, until then, highest values. The principle of this devaluation is, according to Heidegger, the will to power. The will to power is also the principle of every earlier valuation of values. [87] How does this devaluation occur and why is this nihilistic? One of Heidegger's main critiques on philosophy is that philosophy, and more specifically metaphysics, has forgotten to discriminate between investigating the notion of a being ( seiende) and Being ( Sein). According to Heidegger, the history of Western thought can be seen as the history of metaphysics. Moreover, because metaphysics has forgotten to ask about the notion of Being (what Heidegger calls Seinsvergessenheit), it is a history about the destruction of Being. That is why Heidegger calls metaphysics nihilistic. [88] This makes Nietzsche's metaphysics not a victory over nihilism, but a perfection of it. [89]

Table of Contents

The etymological origin of nihilism is the Latin root word nihil, meaning 'nothing', which is similarly found in the related terms annihilate, meaning 'to bring to nothing', [5] and nihility, meaning ' nothingness'. [19] The term nihilism emerged in several places in Europe during the 18th century, [7] notably in the German form Nihilismus, [20] though was also in use during the Middle Ages to denote certain forms of heresy. [21] The concept itself first took shape within Russian and German philosophy, which respectively represented the two major currents of discourse on nihilism prior to the 20th century. [20] The term likely entered English from either the German Nihilismus, Late Latin nihilismus, or French nihilisme. [22] Turgenev, Ivan. "Chapter 5". Fathers and Sons. Translated by Constance Garnett. A nihilist is a man who does not bow down before any authority, who does not take any principle on faith, whatever reverence that principle may be enshrined in. Cosmic nihilism is the position that reality or the cosmos is either wholly or significantly unintelligible and that it provides no foundation for human aims and principles. [3] Particularly, it may regard the cosmos as distinctly hostile or indifferent to humanity. [100] It is often related to both epistemological and existential nihilism, as well as cosmicism. Deleuze, Gilles (1983) [1962]. Nietzsche and Philosophy. Translated by Tomlinson, Hugh. London: The Athlone Press. ISBN 978-0-231-13877-2.