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/lit/ - Literature

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3296108 No.3296108[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Can someone please define these two words for me:

>nihilism
>nihilist

People use it very often, I use it sometimes too, but there's always someone to correct me and tell me that I'm using that word in the wrong way (especially on /lit/). So, without reading those Wikipedia articles again, I am asking you, /lit/, what do those words mean? What does it mean to be a true nihilist?

And, can a true nihilist exist without contradicting his characteristics? Isn't nihilist someone who sees life as nothing, and doesn't care. And wouldn't a true nihilist be someone who wouldn't commit suicide, but just stand still in one place until he dies?

Also, there are many types of nihilism, I guess I (and the majority of people who name-drop nihilism) am referring to existential nihilism which is the view that life has no objective meaning.

Oh, and it would be nice if someone would explain this picture to me. Thanks.

>> No.3296127
File: 22 KB, 427x587, 1356566969332.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3296127

Nihilism is the negation (renunciation) of "putatively meaningful aspects of life", that is, *popular and or widely considered* meaningful aspects (values) of life.
Nihilism the negation of values a culture finds important.
Existential Nihilism posits that life is without intrinsic value; that is, there is no objective value that is born with the world. Existential nihilists believe that it is necessary for one to create one's own values, whereas absurdism (perhaps a form of nihilism) finds that all of life is a meeting with what seems to be no meaning.

the picture is saying...
A college freshman suddenly realizes that life is without objective meaning, and is shocked by it. A 'real nihilist' finds life is without objective meaning but goes along with the rat race of monetary kingship because it is the value most strongly ingrained in our capitalist culture, thus the least suffered path.

>Can a true nihilist exist without contradicting his characteristics?
Yes.
>Isn't nihilist someone who sees life as nothing, and doesn't care.
No
>And wouldn't a true nihilist be someone who wouldn't commit suicide, but just stand still in one place until he dies?
No, how one reacts to the feeling of life's meaninglessness is dependent on the person.

>> No.3296131

A good start is to stop using words you don't know.

>> No.3296143

>>3296127
>Existential nihilists believe that it is necessary for one to create one's own values, whereas absurdism (perhaps a form of nihilism) finds that all of life is a meeting with what seems to be no meaning
I think it's the other way around. Absurdism teaches you all about how life is pointless and has no meaning, yet at the same time tries to tell you to create your own values.

Maybe I'm wrong, it's been a long time since I was studying this.

>> No.3296177

This isn't clever at all

>> No.3296208

>>3296177
That picture? Agreed.

>> No.3296220

>>3296208
i thought it was because i didn't take it personally

>> No.3296239

>>3296143
Absurdism is active nihilism.

>> No.3296248

>>3296239
>Absurdism

>> No.3297267

>>3296248
What?