What exactly is nihilism?

[Dimitri Molotov]

from what i understand, it is just a mindset where nothing matters and everything is like a coincidence or just doesn't have a purpose, please correct me if I'm wrong that is probably an incredibly sloppy way of explaining it. i know theres different kinds of nihilism, but i think thats the basic idea. also, is there like a marxist-nihilism? i have heard of anarcho-nihilism in another thread and if i remember it right its just a russian movement that rejects any and all authority or something similar to that. just curious, thanks:):thumbup:

[Frosty Weasel]

I've heard it defined that there is no meaning in anything, since all forms of emotion and reason are all constructs of the mind to make life bearable.

It is rather depressing really.

[Dimitri Molotov]

thanks that sounds like a better way of explaining it haha honestly deep down that is what i believe but i dont know why i give a shit about the world so much, but i do for some reason even thou none of it will matter in the end, i dont know i guess being an outspoken radical anarcho-marxist just gives me something to do haha.:cool:

[Veg_Athei_Socialist]

thanks that sounds like a better way of explaining it haha honestly deep down that is what i believe but i dont know why i give a shit about the world so much, but i do for some reason even thou none of it will matter in the end, i dont know i guess being an outspoken radical anarcho-marxist just gives me something to do haha.:cool:
Is there really such thing as anarcho-marxism? How does that work:confused:.

[gestalt]

Any number of ideologies have adopted the moniker of "nihilism" over its existence, almost none of which have anything to offer to humanity.

The historical definition of nihilism, if you go back to Nietzsche, is a reaction to the realization of the death of god. Either you are a "free spirit" who accepts the nonexistence of a deity and then set about to construct your own morality or you are a "nihilist" who bemoans the fact, cannot overcome the tension between what they want to believe and reality and, in turn, lives out an existence devoid of meaning.

It was something to be overcome, in this sense, not an end goal.

[Amphictyonis]

from what i understand, it is just a mindset where nothing matters and everything is like a coincidence or just doesn't have a purpose, please correct me if I'm wrong that is probably an incredibly sloppy way of explaining it. i know theres different kinds of nihilism, but i think thats the basic idea. also, is there like a marxist-nihilism? i have heard of anarcho-nihilism in another thread and if i remember it right its just a russian movement that rejects any and all authority or something similar to that. just curious, thanks:):thumbup:

Nietzsche actually saw it as an affliction to be overcome as did Kierkegaard which is why Kierkegaard turned to religion to escape nihilism (abject meaninglessness). Nietzsche didn't embrace religion obviously and went sort of mad because he didn't live his own life to the fullest in the face of meaninglessness- he couldn't become the superman he envisioned. The existentialists such as Sartre and Camus also said nihilism was an affliction and you escape it by giving life whatever meaning you want to give it. I think the term nihilism has been abused in the same manner as Anarchism. It's not a state of mind to be celebrated or embraced I think most people are thinking of Anomie when they think 'nihilism'.