Nihil means “nothing.” -ism means “ideology.” But this seems to be self-refuting. To say that this means that someone “believes in nothing” is not really helpful, as believing in something suggests there is something to be believed in, but if that something is nothing, then there is not something to be believed in.
Therefore, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking “Everything is nihilism!” which of course leads to thinking “Nothing is nihilism!”
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Nihilism means "nothing." It is the lack of belief in meaning or substance in an area of philosophy.
If optimism is hopefulness, then pessimism is hopelessness. Pessimism is dark and depressing. But it is not nihilism.
To be with a pessimist is to know that you are with a pessimist. But you can be with a nihilist and have no idea. Indeed you could yourself be a nihilist and have no idea. S...
The belief that nothing is morally right or wrong(moral nihilism), and the belief that morals are culture-specific(cultural relativism) seems to be in retreat everywhere. There are 2 motivations for this -
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