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Also Bertrand Russell: "Only within the scaffolding of [nihilism], only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be sa

by umvi 3y ago

Also Bertrand Russell: "Only within the scaffolding of [nihilism], only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built." I could not disagree more with a lot of this man's philosophies, but at least he seems to be earnest in his convictions. In my experience from observing close friends, embracing nihilism breeds depression and mental illness more often than not.

I_Am_Nous 3y ago
Two world wars made a lot of people nihilistic and may have even spawned the existential philosophies of Camus, Sarte, and Beauvoir. Camus considered life absurd and meaningless and the only thing to do was keep living just as a big middle finger to the absurd. Modern nihilism looks like the Chinese lying flat/let it rot movement. Just giving up.
- HEmanZ 3y ago
  I see the opposite, modern nihilism is demonstrated in the movie “Everything Everywhere all at Once”. There’s no deep, existential meaning. But there is personal and human meaning.
  - I_Am_Nous 3y ago
    Subjective meaning is still meaning :)
    - throw0101b 3y ago
      > Subjective meaning is still meaning :) Even if it an illusion? If you personally (subjectively) believe that your spouse loves you, does it matter that they're secretly actually (objectively) cheating on you?
      - I_Am_Nous 3y ago
        I'm guess I'd be happy until I found out I shouldn't be in that situation. But what's an illusion, and when can we stop pulling back curtains? We are solid matter, but there's mostly empty space in our atoms. So we think and feel like we are solid, but we are nothing more than fluctuations in a quantum field as far as we can tell. Shall my subjective happiness be dashed on the off chance I'm actually just a passing fluctuation in the echo of the big bang instead of a human in the only reality there is?
      - stvltvs 3y ago
        This is asking if subjective meaning is objectively meaningful which, by definition, it isn't. Subjective meaning is choosing to find meaning in things even though they don't matter in the grand scheme of things.

by umvi 3y ago

I_Am_Nous 3y ago

Two world wars made a lot of people nihilistic and may have even spawned the existential philosophies of Camus, Sarte, and Beauvoir. Camus considered life absurd and meaningless and the only thing to do was keep living just as a big middle finger to the absurd. Modern nihilism looks like the Chinese lying flat/let it rot movement. Just giving up.

HEmanZ 3y ago
I see the opposite, modern nihilism is demonstrated in the movie “Everything Everywhere all at Once”. There’s no deep, existential meaning. But there is personal and human meaning.
- I_Am_Nous 3y ago
  Subjective meaning is still meaning :)
  - throw0101b 3y ago
    > Subjective meaning is still meaning :) Even if it an illusion? If you personally (subjectively) believe that your spouse loves you, does it matter that they're secretly actually (objectively) cheating on you?
    - I_Am_Nous 3y ago
      I'm guess I'd be happy until I found out I shouldn't be in that situation. But what's an illusion, and when can we stop pulling back curtains? We are solid matter, but there's mostly empty space in our atoms. So we think and feel like we are solid, but we are nothing more than fluctuations in a quantum field as far as we can tell. Shall my subjective happiness be dashed on the off chance I'm actually just a passing fluctuation in the echo of the big bang instead of a human in the only reality there is?
    - stvltvs 3y ago
      This is asking if subjective meaning is objectively meaningful which, by definition, it isn't. Subjective meaning is choosing to find meaning in things even though they don't matter in the grand scheme of things.