Nihilism is a belief in which one does not attach value to anything. There is no truth, because every truth has its own imperfection. Westerners are mainly familiar with nihilism through the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (photo).
Table of contents
- Nihilism
- Russia: Bakunin (1814-1876)
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
- Oswald Spengler (1880-1936)
- Helmut Thielicke
- Riots in London in 2011
- YOLO
Nihilism
Nihilism comes from the Latin word nihil, which means nothing. It is the philosophical belief of ‘believing in nothing’. The only truth is that there is no truth. Nihilism is the belief that all values and norms essentially have no reliable basis. Nihilism is often associated with pessimism. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, answer to no one, and have no purpose in life other than a drive for destruction.
Nihilism is usually said in the same breath as Friedrich Nietzsche. It claimed that the destructive effects of nihilism would eventually eradicate all moral values and religious beliefs.
Russia: Bakunin (1814-1876)
Mikhael Bakunin believed that the people should no longer believe in half-truths as told by those in power. The church, the state and family values were rejected. Instead, people had to rely on materialism and rationalism. The pursuit of knowledge based on materialism and rationalism, and the pursuit of individual freedom had to fill the void. By the late nineteenth century in Russia, “nihilists” actually meant terrorists or political activists. The poorly organized anarchist movements that Bakunin influenced with his nihilism had split into many small ‘militias’ and caused bomb attacks and other terror.
In Western Europe, nihilism is known more as a philosophy than as an anarchist movement. Here nihilism is much more easily linked to Nietzsche than to Bakunin.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
According to Nietzsche, nihilism is the strongest possible rejection of imposed values and meanings (by society). Nihilism is not just the belief that everything deserves to disappear; but people actively participate in it, they destroy. (Will to Power) The collapse of these meanings and values will unleash the most destructive forces, and start humanity’s greatest crisis. A nihilist is therefore by definition also a disbeliever.
Oswald Spengler (1880-1936)
Oswald Spengler, who believed that Nietzsche was right about nihilism, said in ‘The Decline of the West’ that all great but ultimately failed societies (because they perished) fell prey to nihilism. Centuries-old traditions and cultures died every time a great empire collapsed. According to him, there were also different ‘types’ of nihilists. The ‘Faustian’ nihilists actively destroy values, norms and ideas, the ‘Apollonians’ watch that spectacle without intervening, and the ‘Indian’ nihilists turn inward, they want nothing to do with it and withdraw nothing about it.
Spengler’s conclusion is therefore that the West is already in an advanced stage of destruction: nihilists of all kinds are undermining the various (Western European) authorities. Spengler’s drastic conclusions partly have to do with his German nationality. When he wrote the book in the interwar period, there were already major problems in Germany, after the humiliating Treaty of Versailles for Germany. These problems would eventually lead to the rise of the Nazis, who were strengthened by theories such as Spengler’s. To counter this decline of Europe, Europeans had to resist foreign influences that threatened the old traditions and cultures: Slavs (including Russians), Jews, Gypsies, became the targets.
Helmut Thielicke
Nihilism literally has only one truth to declare, namely, that ultimately Nothingness prevails and the world is meaningless (Nihilism: Its origin and Nature, with a Cristian Answer, 1969).
So from the nihilistic perspective, life and the entire world is amoral. There are no values and standards that are ‘the truth’ and therefore worth living by. According to Thielicke, this kind of attitude leads to horrors such as Nazi terror. You can ask questions about this, because that Nazi terror required order, soldiers and workers who uncritically follow orders because they believe in the story that is told to them. Most took part out of the ‘conviction’ that nihilism and foreign influences could still be reduced. Because they were so convinced you can hardly call them nihilists. For a nihilist, as Nietzsche and others saw, National Socialism was actually worthless. So Nazism was rather an anti-movement or a reaction to nihilism. What National Socialism (fascism) and nihilism do have in common is the aversion to the Enlightenment. Both have become anti-Enlightenment traditions in thought, they do not believe in the freedom, equality or malleability of man.
Riots in London in 2011
During these riots, several hundred young people in London caused a lot of destruction. Houses and cars were burned down, shops and distribution centers looted. We were often told in the news that these riots were so ‘meaningless’. There was no political party behind it, al-Qaeda had nothing to do with it. What we do know: most young people were poorly educated, lived in deprived neighborhoods and had little hope of finding work. So it could well be that this outburst of senseless violence is the kind of destruction that Nietzsche would call nihilistic.
While Bakunin still labeled nihilistic violence as ‘creative’ (one had to destroy old structures to create a free world), in London this violence is sometimes called ‘recreational’. The young people did it as a pastime, like others go bowling or cycling. Calling this violence this way seems unfair due to the social and economic situations of the young people, but if this label is correct, these young people were ‘real nihilists’ as Nietzsche defined them, who really aimlessly destroy everything that others believe in.
YOLO
The abbreviation stands for You Only Live Once. In recent years, young people seem to be using this expression more and more often. This probably also means that more and more young people can identify with this when forming their identity. This can form the basis of a nihilistic attitude to life. You only live once, so it doesn’t matter how bad you make it, how much you destroy or how many people hate you. But YOLO is often not nihilistic at all. For many people you only live once means that you should give as much meaning to your life as possible. That you only have a short time to think of ideas, write, party, etc. You only live once, so make the best of it, for yourself and others.
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