nihilism

[Ben_JS]

There are multiple types of nihilism, each with their own scope.
iambiguous refers to being a moral nihilist, the scope being nihilism regarding morality.
I consider myself an existential nihilist - I don’t think existence has objective meaning, but we can create our own.
I could agree with iambiguous that there is no basis for objective morality, but I do believe there is one for subjective morality.

@HumAnIze

Nihilism is a teenage cope for emo-type simps who are mad at their fathers.

I haven’t been following the conversation, so responding to this may be cherry picking - if so, forgive me.

This statement appears very dismissive. Nihilists can be very happy, optimistic and loving people.
I can understand how your statement may apply to Young nihilists, who may very well be lashing out.
My point is there’s more to nihilism than a teenager’s conception of nihilism.

@HumAnIze

That is why they all inevitably treat their favorite writers/artists/philosophers as gods who cannot be criticized. Then they borrow some of that “holiness” to themselves by virtue of they’re being SO SMART to recognize the supreme godliness of their hallowed visionary gurus (Nietzsche simps come to mind here).

I never really had a Nietzche phase [preferred Schopenhauer] - I took issue with the community that hijacked ‘Will to Power’ as a ticket to be assholes.
However, if one interprets WtP as: life bestows a surplus of energy within each of us [energy = power], and our will is to express this energy - then it sits fine with me.
I was really influenced by his life affirmation:

If we affirm one single moment, we thus affirm not only ourselves but all existence. For nothing is self-sufficient, neither in us ourselves nor in things; and if our soul has trembled with happiness and sounded like a harp string just once, all eternity was needed to produce this one event – and in this single moment of affirmation all eternity was called good, redeemed, justified, and affirmed. - Nietzsche

Eternal return proceeds from the assumption that the probability of a world coming into existence exactly like our own is greater than zero (we know this because our world exists). If space is infinite, then cosmology tells us that our existence will recur an infinite number of times.

“If my life were to recur, then it could recur only in identical fashion.”

The wish for the eternal return of all events would mark the ultimate affirmation of life.

Nietzsche celebrates the Greeks who, facing up to the terrors of nature and history, did not seek refuge in “a Buddhistic negation of the will,” as Schopenhauer did, but instead created tragedies in which life is affirmed as beautiful in spite of everything.

As I grow older, mend the wounds of the past, experience more, and come to have different beliefs about the nature of reality - I come closer to being in agreement with Nietzsche and affirming existence - whilst remaining an existential nihilist, as I think Nietzsche was.

==

EDIT: Ok, I see a more considerable response from you.

@HumAnIze

Nihilism is a supposed rejection of meaning. In which case it should reject the meaning of nihilism, in which case nihilism would no longer exist or it would exist as some kind of empty placeholder term.

The etymology of nihilism stems from the Latin word ‘nihil’ which means nothing.
So nihilism is saying something at a certain scale is nothing or meaningless.
As said earlier in my post, there are scales/scopes to which one can be a nihilist.
Your argument stands if one claims to be a global nihilist.
To say there is absolutely no meaning, defeats the need to communicate or even define the term.
But again, not all nihilists claim there is absolutely no meaning whatsoever.

@HumAnIze

But that isn’t how nihilists use nihilism, they use it to ADD more meaning into their own lives, thoughts and emotions. Nihilism is precisely meaningful to a nihilist, which is pretty ironically funny. And you can tell how meaningful it is to them because they always get super emotional about it, defend it, or talk about it all the time. Like you know, making entire huge threads and writing about it almost every day.

I think given my previous marks, you can follow the dots to see how it’s still rational [not the only rational position btw] and consistent to claim the universe doesn’t have inherent meaning, but due to the bias of the living, who create their own subjective meaning, we still have skin in the game - and discussion of this issue remains relevant to us.

@HumAnIze

And not only this, but nihilism is a lie, a self-lie that nihilists tell themselves when they close their eyes and pretend that meaning isn’t there, when it always and absolutely is there.

Different scales, different scopes. Objective meaning vs subjective meaning. So I disagree that it’s a misconception, let alone a lie.