Nihilism
Czarist-era revolutionary movement
Nihilism is the philosophical position that life has no inherent meaning, purpose, or value.
In its strongest form, it rejects all moral principles and religious beliefs as groundless.
The term often carries negative connotations, suggesting dangerous or despairing worldviews: The character's nihilism led him to believe nothing mattered.
More loosely, nihilism describes cynical rejection of established values or institutions: political nihilism, moral nihilism.
Someone who holds such views is a nihilist.
Philosophy stressing self-created meaning
- NietzscheGerman philosopher of will
- meaninglessnessLack of significance
- absurdismPhilosophy embracing existence's irrationality
- voidWithout legal effect
nothingness · atheism · Schopenhauer · abyss · Sartre · Camus · metaphysics · epistemology
Raw, fast rock genre
- countercultureRejection of mainstream values
- rejectionDenial of acceptance
- anti-artRejection of conventional aesthetics
- DadaAbsurdist artistic rebellion
deconstruction · subversion · rebellion · disaffection · alienation · angst · ennui · disillusionment
Lack of significance
- crisisDecisive dangerous moment
- despairTotal absence of hope
- emptinessAbsence of substance
- purposelessnessState of lacking intention
anguish · dread · absurdity · alienation · disillusionment · hopelessness · vacuum · bleakness
Philosophy rejecting state authority
- terrorismIntimidation through targeted violence
- revolutionViolent governmental overthrow
- destructionAct of completely ruining
- TurgenevRussian realist writer
Russian · radicalism · insurgency · assassination · propaganda · anti-establishment · subversion · regicide
Lacking ethical concern
- relativismContext-dependent truth doctrine
- ethicsStudy of right conduct
- valuelessnessAbsence of any worth
- rejectionDenial of acceptance
conscience · transgression · permissibility · beyond good and evil · lawlessness · immoralism · decadence · corruption
existentialism
Philosophy stressing self-created meaning
- NietzscheGerman philosopher of will
- meaninglessnessLack of significance
- absurdismPhilosophy embracing existence's irrationality
void · nothingness · atheism · Schopenhauer · abyss · Sartre · Camus · metaphysics · epistemology · ontology
punk
Raw, fast rock genre
- countercultureRejection of mainstream values
- rejectionDenial of acceptance
- anti-artRejection of conventional aesthetics
Dada · deconstruction · subversion · rebellion · disaffection · alienation · angst · ennui · disillusionment · antiestablishment
meaninglessness
Lack of significance
purposelessness · anguish · dread · absurdity · alienation · disillusionment · hopelessness · vacuum · bleakness · desolation
anarchism
Philosophy rejecting state authority
- terrorismIntimidation through targeted violence
- revolutionViolent governmental overthrow
- destructionAct of completely ruining
Turgenev · Russian · radicalism · insurgency · assassination · propaganda · anti-establishment · subversion · regicide · militant
amorality
Lacking ethical concern
- relativismContext-dependent truth doctrine
- ethicsStudy of right conduct
- valuelessnessAbsence of any worth
rejection · conscience · transgression · permissibility · beyond good and evil · lawlessness · immoralism · decadence · corruption · depravity
- art movementsPop Art, pop art, Impressionism, impressionism, Surrealism
- Slavic ThoughtRussian soul, Frank, Bakhtin, Pan-Slavism, Russian Orthodoxy
- TurgenevFaust
Nihilismexistentialism
Philosophy stressing self-created meaning
teleology · humanism · purpose · meaning · essentialism
Nihilismabsolutism
Unrestricted governmental authority
objectivism · intrinsic value · universal values · deontology · Platonism
Nihilismfaith
Trust without proof
theism · religion · spirituality · belief · transcendentalism