Nihilism, also known as nihilism, is a philosophical view that people value nothing and therefore tend to destroy. Although it is associated with Nietzsche, let’s take a closer look at what nihilism is actually emerging among Russian intellectuals and see in detail what it advocates and who its representatives are.
Let’s face it, we all think from time to time how worthless and meaningless everything is. However, this thought often arises after a bad event or when we are depressed. Nihilism, on the other hand, considers this idea as a philosophical view. In nihilism, people basically reject the value of everything. and even some radicals tend to destroy them.
When it comes to nihilism, we are sure that many people will think of Friedrich Nietzsche first because he often used nihilistic themes in his works. However, Nietzsche was not exactly a nihilist, he even thought that these thoughts would bring the end of the world. The most staunch nihilists were Russian intellectuals. Let’s take a closer look at what nihilism is and see the interesting details about it.
Let’s start with a basic definition; What is nihilism?
Nihilism, also called nihilism and non-existence in Turkish, It is a philosophical view derived from the Latin word nihil, meaning nothing. Although it has different sub-thoughts, nihilism in general argues that all known values are actually baseless, that nothing can be known and transferred.
So, what exactly is nihilism?
Nihilists are generally pessimistic people. They don’t value anything and don’t believe in anything. Some even have a tendency to destroy what they see as worthless. Everything that is considered valuable in philosophy, such as the existence of God, family, love, loyalty, happiness, free will, and knowledge, is actually rejected by nihilism.
So how did nihilism arise?
The word nihilism was originally used for many years to mean to destroy, but close to what we know today, first person to use it as a radical idealism 18th century German philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. The person who gave the full meaning of nihilism was the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. The vulgar scientist attitude of the character of Bazarov in his novel Fathers and Sons has made nihilism popular among the people.
The moral approach that would pave the way for the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia later on was nihilism. Mikhael Bakunin, considered the founder of anarchism, In his articles, he talked about the destruction of existing values by rejecting them. It is known that at the end of the 1870s, many anarchist or communist groups in Russia united in a morality based on nihilism.
Of course, if we want to go deep into nihilism, we must go to Ancient Greece and We must meet Demosthenes, the father of skepticism. Although Demosthenes, who lived between 371 and 322 BC, is known as a skeptical philosopher, he actually laid the foundations of epistemological nihilism when viewed from today.
The person who worked as a philosophical thought in the sense that we know nihilism was the German philosopher Max Stirner. Stirner’s destruction of the state in order to achieve individual freedom and argues that abstract concepts should be rejected. Going further, Stirner says that even existence is a war of all against all. Of course, these are radical anarchist ideas.
Nietzsche’s view of nihilism is somewhat different:
Of course, one of the most important names that come to mind when nihilism is mentioned will be the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche actually said that there is no order in the world. says that we created this order. He argues that all values are baseless and that every true nihilist must radically reject all known values.
Going further, Nietzsche says that nihilism will constitute the greatest destructive force in history. Because when all the value and belief systems imposed on people by western traditionalists are rejected and destroyed. We will face one of the biggest crises in history. According to him, with such a destruction, the reality will be revealed without being hidden anymore.
Nietzsche’s idea was studied by many philosophers and artists in the following years. German philosopher Oswald Spengler in his study of destroyed cultures indeed, he discovered that values and beliefs disappeared first. A culture that had lost its values and beliefs was indeed doomed to collapse, so Nietzsche was right.
Helmut Thielicke, a German theologian, said that according to nihilism, a world ruled by nothingness would be meaningless. Going further, Thielicke He also said that such nonsense would pave the way for the atrocities committed by the Nazis. In other words, the revolution that will take place with nihilism may not always be a revolution with flowers and insects.
Nihilism in the 20th century focused on more individual problems:
Like so many things in the war-ridden world of the 20th century, philosophy became more human-focused and existential nihilism emerged. A writer named Alan Pratt, in his work written in 1994, actually says that existential nihilism is an integral part of the western intellectual tradition. Pratt overemphasized the following sentence of Empedocles; “The life of mortals is so meaningless that it is almost non-life.”
This sentence is very similar to Hegesias. Let’s commit suicide because the pain is more than the pleasure dangerously reminiscent of his thought. In other words, existential nihilism is not a concept that emerged in the 20th century. Such approaches are frequently mentioned, even in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth.
Sartre and Camus mix things up:
Existential nihilism combined with atheism in France became much stronger. Jean-Paul Sartre, one of the most popular names of the period, saying that existence comes from essence rejects all values other than the human self. It is an opinion defended in this period that everything around us is an illusion and when we reject them, we will face a big nothing.
The Legend of Sisyphus was written by Albert Camus during this period. His endless and useless struggle In fact, it is a wonderful metaphor for today’s people. In other words, man is in a meaningless struggle from the day he is born until he dies, and the only thing he has achieved is nothing. So existence is nothing.
Philosophical view that rejects all existing values What is nihilism, what does it advocate? We talked about important details you need to know by answering frequently asked questions. Of course, it is like a deep ocean where you will get lost when you dive into nihilism, but in this article, we aimed to give basic information to those who are introduced to this philosophical view for the first time.