ulysses
22nd February 2013, 18:18
Nihilism. A simple definition would be to say that it is to believe in nothing, or rather, pure unbelief of rational foundations, principles and reason. Nihilism itself is a variegated phenomena, and its disposition possesses many different 'grounds', i.e. existential nihilism, philosophical nihilism, political nihilism, cultural nihilism, etc. etc.
Trying to define nihilism in general, how would you go about defining it? My own particular interests with the subject is due to the overwhelming sentiment portrayed in struggles and everyday life, the disintegration of social life, the rise of political tendencies identifying themselves as such (mixtures of egoism and nihilism), the questionable status of the reproduction of particular portions of the proletariat, etc.
Anyone have any good references for books no nihilism? I've been primarily looking from the aspect of the social and philosophical accounts of nihilism, such as Connor Cunningham's Genealogy of Nihilism, some other Routledge titles about Nihilism, Reiner Schurmann, Benjamin, Nietzsche, Heidegger, etc. etc. The most interesting account I have encountered thus far has been that of Schurmann, most other accounts of nihilism reverting to some weird ontotheological interpretation of nihilism or approaching it to externally (not thru an immanent critique).
Of course there are other aspects involved with nihilism, in relation to socio-economic factors, but I guess I am interested in nihilism in its capacity as a philosophy of history, as perhaps mentioned by Benjamin in his Theologico-Political Fragment :
"The profane, therefore, although not itself a category of this Kingdom, is a decisive category of its quietest approach. For in happiness all that is earthly seeks its downfall, and only in good fortune isz its downfall destined to find it. Whereas, admittedly, the immediate Messianic intensity of the heart, of the inner man in isolation, passes through misfortune, as suffering. To the spiritual restitutio in integrum, which introduces immortality, corresponds a worldly restitution that leads to the eternity of downfall, and the rhythm of this eternally transient worldly existence, transient in its totality, in its spatial but also in its temporal totality, the rhythm of Messianic nature, is happiness. For nature is Messianic by reason of its eternal and total passing away
To strive after such passing, even for those stages of man that are nature, is the task of world politics, whose method must be called nihilism."
Help?
Trying to define nihilism in general, how would you go about defining it? My own particular interests with the subject is due to the overwhelming sentiment portrayed in struggles and everyday life, the disintegration of social life, the rise of political tendencies identifying themselves as such (mixtures of egoism and nihilism), the questionable status of the reproduction of particular portions of the proletariat, etc.
Anyone have any good references for books no nihilism? I've been primarily looking from the aspect of the social and philosophical accounts of nihilism, such as Connor Cunningham's Genealogy of Nihilism, some other Routledge titles about Nihilism, Reiner Schurmann, Benjamin, Nietzsche, Heidegger, etc. etc. The most interesting account I have encountered thus far has been that of Schurmann, most other accounts of nihilism reverting to some weird ontotheological interpretation of nihilism or approaching it to externally (not thru an immanent critique).
Of course there are other aspects involved with nihilism, in relation to socio-economic factors, but I guess I am interested in nihilism in its capacity as a philosophy of history, as perhaps mentioned by Benjamin in his Theologico-Political Fragment :
"The profane, therefore, although not itself a category of this Kingdom, is a decisive category of its quietest approach. For in happiness all that is earthly seeks its downfall, and only in good fortune isz its downfall destined to find it. Whereas, admittedly, the immediate Messianic intensity of the heart, of the inner man in isolation, passes through misfortune, as suffering. To the spiritual restitutio in integrum, which introduces immortality, corresponds a worldly restitution that leads to the eternity of downfall, and the rhythm of this eternally transient worldly existence, transient in its totality, in its spatial but also in its temporal totality, the rhythm of Messianic nature, is happiness. For nature is Messianic by reason of its eternal and total passing away
To strive after such passing, even for those stages of man that are nature, is the task of world politics, whose method must be called nihilism."
Help?