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Single Idea 7847

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 2. Nihilism ]

Full Idea

Nietzsche's first presentation of nihilism is an existential affair arising from cosmic problems, but he later stressed nihilism as a historical and cultural problem of values, where mankind's highest values reach a point of devaluation.

Gist of Idea

Initially nihilism was cosmic, but later Nietzsche saw it as a cultural matter

Source

report of Friedrich Nietzsche (Works (refs to 8 vol Colli and Montinari) [1885]) by Keith Ansell Pearson - How to Read Nietzsche Ch.1

Book Ref

Ansell Pearson,Keith: 'How to Read Nietzsche' [Granta 2005], p.9

A Reaction

The second version seems to imply a quasi-Marxist determinism about social progress. Then you would have to ask, what is the point of fighting against it? I wonder if Nietzsche's values are anti-nihilist, but his metaethics makes nihilism unavoidable?

The 19 ideas with the same theme [human life seems pointless and absurd]:

7072 Jacobi was the first philosopher to talk of nihilism [Jacobi, by Critchley]
22090 For me time stands still, and I with it [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
24123 My eternal recurrence is opposed to feeling fragmented and imperfect [Nietzsche]
23214 For the strongest people, nihilism gives you wings! [Nietzsche]
20125 The ethical teacher exists to give purpose to what happens necessarily and without purpose [Nietzsche]
23717 Modern nihilism is now feeling tired of mankind [Nietzsche]
7198 Nihilism results from measuring the world by our categories which are purely invented [Nietzsche]
9782 Nietzsche urges that nihilism be active, and will nothing itself [Nietzsche, by Zizek]
7847 Initially nihilism was cosmic, but later Nietzsche saw it as a cultural matter [Nietzsche, by Ansell Pearson]
18286 The greatest experience possible is contempt for your own happiness, reason and virtue [Nietzsche]
19622 The pointlessness of our motives and irrelevance of our gestures reveals our vacuity [Cioran]
19617 Evidence suggests that humans do not have a purpose [Cioran]
19612 The universe is dirty and fragile, as if a scandal in nothingness had produced its matter [Cioran]
9243 If we believe existence is absurd, this should dictate our conduct [Camus]
6708 Happiness and the absurd go together, each leading to the other [Camus]
23941 'Absurdity' is just the result of our wrong choices in life [Solomon]
3268 If a small brief life is absurd, then so is a long and large one [Nagel]
6688 Life is only absurd if you expected an explanation and none turns up [Graham]
6843 Perceiving meaninglessness is an achievement, which can transform daily life [Critchley]