Nihilism versus Pessimism
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. Such a lack of awareness is the point of nihilism, as nihilism is all about hiding from despair rather than dwelling on it.
In fact, optimism is more similar to nihilism. If optimism leads us to wait for something good to happen then optimism leads us to do nothing.
51
217 reads
The idea is part of this collection:
Learn more about communication with this collection
How to write clearly and concisely
How to use proper grammar and punctuation
How to structure a business document
Related collections
Similar ideas to Nihilism versus Pessimism
The Seduction of Pessimism
Optimism sounds like a sales pitch. Pessimism sounds like someone trying to help you.
In finance, pessimism is paid more attention than optimism and is, therefore, more persuasive. “It’s easier to create a narrative around pessimism because the story pieces tend to be f...
Nihilism Philosophy - How to live in nihilism
Nihilism is not a friendly philosophy; it exploits humanity's bad side, and it may irritate you. Except for what we give it, there is no objective order or structure in the world. The nihilist realizes that all values are baseless and that reason is powerless after penetrating the facades that su...
Progress requires optimism and pessimism to coexist
Optimism and pessimism go hand in hand. In finance, we are told to save like a pessimist and invest like an optimist. The short term is full of setbacks, problems, breakages, depressions, pandemics, errors, but if you can stick around long enough, you can experience long-term growth.
...Read & Learn
20x Faster
without
deepstash
with
deepstash
with
deepstash
Personalized microlearning
—
100+ Learning Journeys
—
Access to 200,000+ ideas
—
Access to the mobile app
—
Unlimited idea saving
—
—
Unlimited history
—
—
Unlimited listening to ideas
—
—
Downloading & offline access
—
—
Supercharge your mind with one idea per day
Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.
I agree to receive email updates