Nihilism - Is it relevant nowadays?

[Tomboy Respecter]

Nihilism isn't even really an ideology. It prescribes no behaviors and defines nothing other than a general rejection of meaning. It can be a facet of ideologies but in and of itself it is, appropriately, nothing.


Mindlessly reproducing yourself is not much of a cause. People need to find their own passions and reasons to live. Although if someone is just that dedicated to getting as many fucks in as possible, or less cynically, raising a huge family, more power to them if that's what makes their life fulfilling.

True. But to Aristotle,the good life isn't really just about producing offspring. It's more about actualizing the potential ability of a creature to become the best version of it it can be. Thus, the eudaimonia or good life for a plant is Likewise, the good life of an animal is to fully actualize it's potential in becoming the most representative member of that species . For humans, Aristotle notes that unlike plants and (most) animals, our souls are rational and are able to problem solve and deliberate on higher more abstract things. This is important since to Aristotle, the soul is the first potentiality that makes a potentially living thing alive. The final end of all living things is to reach the second actuality which is "the good life", which can be explained with an analogy going like this: The body is like an infant in that it can be potentially alive in the same way an infant can potentially speak; the soul is a speaker of a language being silent and the second actuality of the soul (i.e. the soul doing what the soul was meant for) is like a speaker of a language speaking. With that said, Aristotle comes to the conclusion that the teleological end of the human person sure is technically to reproduce and make more humans due to them being percieving animals and desiring those sorts of pleasures (along with avoiding the pains of social outcastdom and loneliness) just as much as humans have nutritive parts of the soul and have a final end to drink and eat, but in a more deeper sense to self-actualize and put the rational soul to use and dedicate themselves to a life of study (since this is the final end that puts the human's rational soul in motion, just like sex/reproduction and eating does for the perceptive and nutritive parts of the soul in a human), which he says in Nichomachean Ethics Book X (which is a sort of a summary of the previous 9 books and how he sees virtue coming in two flavors: those of character and those of intellect and how the two are related to the "deliberation on one's own moral judgements and the execution/non-execution thereof", "theoretical wisdom of higher, more abstract matters" and "skillsets" (which are the least important in his mind), all of which fall under the umbrella of the self-actualization of the rational soul. (Mind you, when Aristotle speaks of a soul, he's not talking about a ghastly force that keeps you alive. He's talking of something more like the emblem inside a mound of clay that turns the clay into a seal).

TL;DR: Sort of, but that's only taking into consideration the perceptive part of the human soul. The highest goal of the human soul is essentially to learn, teach and to be rational about judgements and do so on a consistent basis.

 

[Drunk and Pour]

Dude, the Übersmench is fucking exceptional. Morality doesn't come out of anyone, you are essentially going back to a more primitive state of religion when common people were, trough legend made into Gods. The truth about morality is that Is absolutely subjective, even If you guide yourself by a code given to you by The Bible or your parents, you are just giving into their concept of morality. Sure, you should try to improve yourself to the best extent that you can, if you really want, but doing It for anyone but yourself, is a big mistake, because other people will never be satisfied with who you are, they will just accept your flaws and care for you that way, but you will never, ever be a guiding beacon of correctness for everyone, not even most people.

If morality is absolutely subjective, every bad person who has done anything bad wouldn't be bad. How can improving yourself exist if it wasn't for the concept of morality? Everybody will not think of you as being a beacon of correctness, but not being a beacon of what everybody thinks of as evil kind of shows that morality isn't exactly subjective.

 

[Recoil]

Walter Sobchak said all that needs to be said about nihilism in the modern age.

Duder drops a bit of science during the pool scene, too. Def among the sharpest one-liners in the whole movie.

 

[ApatheticViewer]

99% of ppl who call themselves nihilists on the internet are just juvenile edgelords who aren't actually and don't understand it.

Case in point the only nihilist I know

 

[ICametoLurk]

 

[Aria]

Nihilism is the philosophical viewpoint that rejects,denies or lack of believe in the meaningful aspects of life.

There is also existential nihilism that which argues that life is without objective meaning purpose or intrinsic value.

Basically nihilist are fucking edgy.

 

[Y2K Baby]

Bro, you just posted cringe.

 

[Gentle George]

"Nihilism" has become nothing more than a xerox word used by dipshit teenagers/young adults to justify their misanthropic and hedonisitic lifestyles without having to worry about social consequences for their actions. The true definition of nihilism has been lost and you'd be incredibly hard pressed to find a true adherent.