In my previous post, it will be recalled, I wrote about the emergence of the condition known as ‘nihilism’ in modern culture and society – one characterised by an awareness that things, relationships, institutions, and so on, lack the self-evident value and meaning they once unquestionably seemed to have. This sketched in the backdrop of what will be my eventual focus, to wit, the ‘cynical nihilism’ that has made a noticeable appearance since 2020. But before one can get there, what has to be added are some important distinctions on the spectrum of nihilism.
A good place to start, to be able to fathom the full range of meanings of the concept, ‘nihilism’ – which was first explored in my previous post – is (again) the writing of the prescient 19th-century German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche. This time it is encountered in his book (based on his unpublished notes, edited and published after his death by his sister, Elizabeth), The Will to Power (Trans. Kaufmann, W. and Hollingdale, R.J., New York, Vintage Books, 1968, p. 7-24).
According to Nietzsche the most severe form of this phenomenon is known as ‘radical nihilism,’ which asserts itself upon discovering that everything one has always taken for granted as having value, like marriage, religion, education, having a stable job, voting in elections, or supporting the local football team, is actually nothing more than convention. What is convention? A tacit, unexamined set of assumptions about social or cultural customs that directs one’s actions and social behaviour. Radical nihilism is therefore the realisation that everything rests on nothing more than human credulity, and it therefore follows that closer examination will disclose even the most cherished institutions as having historically originated from constructive human decisions and cooperation that eventually became no more than accepted, unquestioned conventions. […]
– Read More: brownstone.org
