Nihilism gets a bad rap, people look down on it, Nihilists are either portrayed as depressed, violent, or teenagers going through a goth or metal phase. When nihilism is portrayed it is always as life being absolutely meaningless, purposeless, and pointless. Nihilism is so much more than what it is portrayed, it has deep philosophical roots and it is not depressing, it can even give life more meaning (on a subjective level and yes I recognize the irony).
Nihilism is the philosophical view that that life does not have an objective meaning, purpose, and there is no objective morality. It can be the view that there is absolutely has no meaning, purpose, and morality at all but that is an extreme view and not the view of the vast majority of nihilists. Most nihilists believe that life can have subjective purpose and meaning, and that while no morality is objective, morality still has value. Such nihilism does not mean all moralities are equal, some moral systems can be superior to others. A moral system that that is socially or environmentally destructive is inferior to a moral system that looks into the long term, a moral system that benefits the few is inferior to a morality that benefits the whole, etc.
So where does the negative perception of nihilism come from? Nihilism can be bad, this is existential nihilism, the belief that life, subjectively, has no purpose, no meaning, no point, that we are just insignificant, temporary collections of atoms destined to die and be forgotten. In short: nothing matters and never will. When this dominates a persons mind without a since of perspectives to balance it out, it can be depressing and when one is depressed this can dominate a persons mind. This is not all of nihilism, nihilism can be freeing and joyful (that is the point of this). A second source of Nihilism’s negative reputation is organized religion and the power structures organized religions have. Religions convince people that they need a purpose and then gives them one. A purpose that benefits the religion and the people in power in that religion’s power structure. To such organized religions nihilism, in any form, is a threat, thus it gets demonized. These two come together to create the current cultural view of nihilism as a negative thing.
Nihilism is not inherently bad, there is bad nihilism just like any other philosophy but it has good forms too. The freedom of nihilism is the freedom from purpose and meaning imposed by others. Many think life needs a purpose, maybe to them it does but purpose can be bad. External purposes that don’t add to your life only takes away from it, these external purpose, whether they are a cultural purpose, family purpose, religious purpose, etc, can potentially be very harmful. The desire for a purpose when one doesn’t feel like they have one can be caused by deeper psychological issues, issues that an external purpose will never solve. Nihilism in this regard can help one not only find a subjective purpose it can also help one seek the actual issues. By finding and dealing with the actual issues one has, one no longer feels the need for an external purpose and meaning, one might even find a subjective purpose and meaning was there all along, it was just their issues that blinded them too it.
The beauty of nihilism is it fees one from purpose. It allows one to find what one enjoys or needs to do. This freedom allows one to fallow a path that makes them feel better about themselves and the world around them. Nihilism allows one to see more beauty on the world. A rainbow is not a construct but the result of interactions between light and water droplets in the air, life is not a construct but the result of natural complex chemistry in the cells of our bodies and those cells come together to make something far larger and more complex. Nihilism in this case allows one to see that the world is more than the sum of its parts and allows one to see that more. Even for people who believe the world was created, nihilism still adds beauty, because God didn’t create the bigger systems, instead it created many small systems that come together to create larger and more complex systems that are more than the sum of their parts. That more creates so much beauty that an external purpose or meaning driven view of the universe lacks.
Nihilism tells us the world isn’t the way it is for a reason, because there isn’t a purpose or meaning to the way it is. The world them must be the result of what came before, not fate. This means the future is malleable, we can change the world and the future. We can effect the world and make things better. Because the bad in the world isn’t meant to be, it is the result of what came before, this means things can change, things can get better, we can make the world better.
Morality under nihilism is not objective, this is a good thing. Thinking one’s morality is objective locks one into it, one can not question the morality of an action if it is believed to be objectively right or wrong. This allows one to question and change ones morality, it allows societies to change their morality to something more beneficial to people. Unless a morality is to complex to understand on any level (which defeats the purpose of an objective morality) a morality can not be absolute, the world is just too complicated, objective morality by its nature is absolute. Throwing out objective moralities and looking for the best moral answers based on the best information we have is the best approach.
Nihilism is not a negative, it can be a positive, as ironic as it is, nihilism can lead to subjective purpose and meaning. Nihilism gives one freedom from external meaning and purpose, and morality becomes better and more beneficial. Yes there can be bad nihilism, but every philosophy has bad aspects, especially if it one dwells too much on it. Overall nihilism is good.
C.L. Who Writes 
Leave a comment