Is anyone here sympathetic to Nihilism?

[Reluctant Republican]

What does everyone think of this? I hate to make such an open ended topic, but I’m just curious if you all think this is a philosophy that holds any value at all in helping us understand anything about the universe? It seems to make some sense to me, depressing as it is, and I’m just curious if anyone here favors it or is sympathetic to it at all. Apologizes if this whole post is a bit incomprehensible.

[Хahar 🤔]

I really don't like it. It seems like anarchism with a funny hat.

[Reluctant Republican]

I really don't like it. It seems like anarchism with a funny hat.

Thanks for your input. To me at least, there's a comfort in nothing having any meaning and the universe just like being completely absurd. Its also depressing though, I’ll admit. I consider myself an optimist, so I’d like to believe life had a purpose, but from an unbiased standpoint, I sort of line up with Nhilism. But then, perhaps we as humans give life meaning, or some other such cliché. That actually makes a bit of sense while still allowing for the possibility of no higher or “correct” morality.

As you can see, I’m really bad at figuring out what I mean, but hopefully you all can take a few gems of wisdom from that.

[opebo]

Yes, I would say I am.  Though 'sympathetic to' is an interesting way of putting it.

[Хahar 🤔]

I really don't like it. It seems like anarchism with a funny hat.

Thanks for your input. To me at least, there's a comfort in nothing having any meaning and the universe just like being completely absurd. Its also depressing though, I’ll admit. I consider myself an optimist, so I’d like to believe life had a purpose, but from an unbiased standpoint, I sort of line up with Nhilism. But then, perhaps we as humans give life meaning, or some other such cliché. That actually makes a bit of sense while still allowing for the possibility of no higher or “correct” morality.

As you can see, I’m really bad at figuring out what I mean, but hopefully you all can take a few gems of wisdom from that.

I've considered it, but I can't wrap my brain around the concept of "everything".

[Alcon]

There's kind of a niceness to it.  Consequence-free and everything.  It's sort of like being in a lucid dream.

I'm not sure I really need sympathy for philosophical concepts.  As a system of belief, I guess I'm sympathetic to the comfort it gives.  As a moral justification, hell no.

[Gustaf]

No, I'm not. From a purely intellectual point of view I "get" nihilism. It's not a completely absurd idea to hold. But I don't like the excuses people come up with to avoid moral responsibility. And most actual nihilists seem to convolute themselves into a muddle of contradictions when they try to reconcile their philosophic ideas with real life.

[dead0man]

No, I'm not. From a purely intellectual point of view I "get" nihilism. It's not a completely absurd idea to hold. But I don't like the excuses people come up with to avoid moral responsibility. And most actual nihilists seem to convolute themselves into a muddle of contradictions when they try to reconcile their philosophic ideas with real life.

[Bacon King]

No, I'm not. From a purely intellectual point of view I "get" nihilism. It's not a completely absurd idea to hold. But I don't like the excuses people come up with to avoid moral responsibility. And most actual nihilists seem to convolute themselves into a muddle of contradictions when they try to reconcile their philosophic ideas with real life.

[Verily]

I warm to the idea a bit more than Gustaf does, although he expresses my sentiments reasonably well. I think nihilism is essentially correct, but I also find that, for my everyday existence, it is actually more comforting to assume that nihilism is incorrect and to act in a way nihilists would consider irrational.

I'm fine with the belief that morality is irrational individually without abandoning moral standards (or using their irrationality as an excuse for myself or others). After all, moral standards tend to act to the benefit of everyone. You might be able to get away with violating them to your own gain, but you risk running into a sort of weird amalgamation of the collective action problem and the prisoners' dilemma, which would disadvantage yourself and others.

[JSojourner]

I have absolutely nothing to say in answer to that question.

[Verily]

I have absolutely nothing to say in answer to that question.

[tik 🪀✨]

I prefer absurdism no nihilism.

[Gustaf]

I prefer absurdism no nihilism.

This is a grammatically absurd statement.

Given Verily's reply I should perhaps state clearly that I don't believe nihilism is correct - we disagree on that one. I'm a moral realist.

[Хahar 🤔]

I prefer absurdism no nihilism.

This is a grammatically absurd statement.

No, it's Japanese.

[Scam of God]

BUMP

Certain forms, yes. I am very sympathetic to Nietzschean/Stirnerian nihilism, which posits that Western civilization is corrupt owing to the influence of binary Platonic-Christian notions - the concept of the "soul" extrapolated into individualism and atomism; the emphasis on the "afterlife" or Platonic Forms as higher, truer, better than the material world; the prioritization of deductive over experiential reasoning as a psychological defense against the transience of the material world. The notion that nihilists "just say no" for absolutely no reason is a strawman of the philosophy.

There are, however, other forms of nihilism, certain types of which I am adamantly opposed to. I believe that Christianity is a nihilistic religion, in that it condemns natural and needful behaviors as sinful and prescribes that salvation is necessary. It does this through devaluing this life in favor of another, 'Heaven', and is therefore harmful. My nihilism seeks to create through destruction (of the existing social paradigms); Christian nihilism destroys through creation (of an untenable system of morality).

These two forms of nihilism might well be subdivided into 'Dionysian' and 'Apollonian' strata - the 'Dionysian' emphasizing worldly experience and sensuality; the 'Apollonian' imposing forms upon the effervescent world of the senses. Hilariously enough, the two religions most frequently opposed in popular reckoning - Christianity and (LaVeyan) Satanism - both rank among the Apollonian strata as individualistic nihilisms.

What is the difference, then? Primarily this: the Dionysian man embraces the world of mere appearance; he trusts his senses alone; he understands Heraclitus' aphorism of the river; he not only accepts, he embraces the concept of death and ego-annihilation. The Apollonic nihilist, the Christian, fears all these and denies the very reality of this world to escape them.