Nihilism
Nolen Gertz at the Aeon online site
Then [for me] that truly enigmatic relationship and interaction between the psychological self and the part where any particular “I” chooses to pursue this philosophically.
Or, for others, theologically, morally, politically.
The part I encompass on this thread: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=185296
But how “for all practical purposes”, in terms of our daily interactions with others, does someone go about making the distinction between passive and active nihilism?
"Passive nihilism is more the traditional ‘belief that all is meaningless’, while active nihilism goes beyond judgment to deed, and destroys values where they seem apparent. Passive nihilism signifies the end of an era, while active nihilism ushers in something new.
Again, especially in a world where there is clearly a distinction to be made between essential and existential meaning.
Suppose you conclude that life is essentially meaningless and yet you choose to continue interacting with others out in a particular community from day to day. Even as you set for yourself the task of deconstructing truth and justice into “existential contraptions” that doesn’t make the need to conclude something meaningful about them go away.
For me, of course, this then revolves around the extent to which someone either feels more or less “fractured and fragmented” than “I” am given that I construe moral and political values to be largely existential prejudices derived from dasein.
So, my aim is less in regard to “ushering in something new” and more in grappling with how to communicate “I” as I know it – broken, splintered, cracked, – in a world that is still largely nestled in one or another rendition of objectivism.
In other words, anything new would still be subsumed for all practical purposes in the components of my own [now] chronic ambiguity and ambivalence.