Nihilism states that there is no sustainer, such as God, of lasting purpose, meaning, or hope for human life, even if humans create their own transitory purpose, meaning, or hope.
What kind of evidence would it take to confirm the truth of nihilism?.
The major types of nihilism are metaphysical nihilism, mereological nihilism, partial nihilism, and moral nihilism.
Metaphysical nihilism is the hypothesis that nothing exists and that everything is an illusion..
While nihilism is often discussed in terms of extreme skepticism and relativism, for most of the 20th century it has been associated with the belief that life is meaningless.
Existential nihilism begins with the notion that the world is without meaning or purpose..
You can be both a cosmic nihilist and an existentialist nihilist.
Cosmic nihilism contrasts the vastness of the universe to humanity and says we are infinitely insignificant and meaningless in the cosmos.
Existential nihilism also says humanity has no purpose or meaning..
Cosmicism shares many characteristics with nihilism, though one important difference is that cosmicism tends to emphasize the insignificance of humanity and its doings, rather than summarily rejecting the possible existence of some higher purpose (or purposes); e.g., in Lovecraft's Cthulhu stories..
Although the logic of nihilism seems inevitable, given the absence of absolute purpose and meaning, “actively” confronting nihilism and completing our historical encounter with it will be a sign of good health and the “increased power of the spirit” ( Will to Power aphorism 22).
But this is exactly the point of cosmological nihilism.
So, the cosmological nihilist would not be concerned with not satisfying the criterion.
Given that we use our understanding of the meaningfulness of life to orient our lives, cosmological nihilism is inadequate for understanding how to live.
Moral nihilism, also called ethical nihilism, is the meta-ethical position that no morality or ethics exists whatsoever; therefore, no action is ever morally preferable to any other.
Moral nihilism is distinct from both moral relativism and expressivism in that it does not acknowledge socially constructed values as personal or cultural moralities.
"Nihilism".
Encyclopædia Britannica.
Nihilism, (from Latin nihil, "nothing"), originally a philosophy of moral and epistemological skepticism that arose in 19th-century Russia during the early years of the reign of Tsar Alexander II.
Pratt, Alan. "Nihilism".
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
