nihilism
Sign in to savethumb|alt=Diagram with the texts "nihilism", "meaning", "morality", and "knowledge", together with arrows|Different forms of nihilism reject distinct aspects of existence, such as a higher meaning, morality, and knowledge. Nihilism is a family of philosophical views that question the existence of any objectively meaningful purpose, moral value, truth, or knowledge. Nihilistic views span several branches of philosophy, including ethics, value theory, epistemology, and metaphysics. Nihilism is also described as a broad cultural phenomenon or historical movement that pervades modernity in the Wes
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Nihilism is a philosophical perspective that challenges the idea that life has inherent meaning, that objective moral values exist, or that we can have reliable knowledge about the world. It matters because these questions about meaning, morality, and truth are fundamental to how people understand their lives and make decisions, making nihilism an important philosophical position to understand in modern Western culture.
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Article
20 sectionsContents
- Definition, related terms, and etymology
- Ethics and value theory
- Existential nihilism
- Moral nihilism
- Epistemology
- Relativism
- Skepticism
- Metaphysics
- Metaphysical nihilism
- Mereological nihilism
- Cosmic nihilism
- Other forms
- Political nihilism
- History
- See also
- References
- Notes
- Citations
- Sources
- External links
thumb|alt=Diagram with the texts "nihilism", "meaning", "morality", and "knowledge", together with arrows|Different forms of nihilism reject distinct aspects of existence, such as a higher meaning, morality, and knowledge. Nihilism is a family of philosophical views that question the existence of any objectively meaningful purpose, moral value, truth, or knowledge. Nihilistic views span several branches of philosophy, including ethics, value theory, epistemology, and metaphysics. Nihilism is also described as a broad cultural phenomenon or historical movement that pervades modernity in the Western world.
Existential nihilism asserts that life has no objective meaning or purpose. The idea that all individual and societal values are ultimately pointless has been associated with various responses. They range from general indifference and existential crises to transformative reinterpretations of established ideals and a creative embrace of personal meaning-making. Moral nihilism, a related view, denies the objective existence of morality, arguing that moral evaluations and practices rest on misguided assumptions without any foundation in external reality.