Existential nihilism

Existential nihilism is the philosophical theory that life has no objective meaning or purpose.Veit, W. (2018). Existential Nihilism: The Only Really Serious Philosophical Problem – Journal of Camus Studies 2018: 211–236. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.26965.24804 The inherent meaninglessness of life is largely explored in the philosophical school of existentialism, where one can potentially create their own subjective "meaning" or "purpose". The supposed conflict between our desire for meaning and the reality of a meaningless world is explored in the philosophical school of absurdism. Of all types of nihilism, existential nihilism has received the most literary and philosophical attention.

History

Ecclesiastes in the Bible extensively explores the meaninglessness of life.

During the Renaissance, William Shakespeare summarised the existential nihilist's perspective through Macbeth's mindset in the end of the eponymous play.

The philosopher David Hume said:

Arthur Schopenhauer, Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche further expanded on these ideas, and Nietzsche, particularly, has become a major figure in existential nihilism. With Kierkegaard, the concept of absurdism was developed, which explains the concept of humans trying to find meaning in a meaningless world.

The atheistic existentialist movement spread in 1940s France. Jean-Paul Sartre's ''Being and Nothingness'' and Albert Camus' ''The Myth of Sisyphus'' discussed the topic. Sartre and Camus expanded on the topic of absurdism. Camus wrote further works, such as '' The Stranger'', ''Caligula'', '' The Plague'', '' The Fall'' and '' The Rebel''. Other figures include Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida. In addition, Ernest Becker's Pulitzer Prize-winning life's work '' The Denial of Death'' is a collection of thoughts on existential nihilism.

Arguments

Schopenhauer argued that the fact we feel boredom shows the inherent pointlessness of life, since if life itself had value we would not feel boredom:

The theory purports to describe the human situation to create a life outlook and create meaning, which has been summarized as, "Strut, fret, and delude ourselves as we may, our lives are of no significance, and it is futile to seek or to affirm meaning where none can be found." Existential nihilists claim that, to be honest, one must face the absurdity of existence, that they will eventually die, and that both religion and metaphysics are simply results of the fear of death and the endeavor to find meaning in a meaningless universe.

Nihilists contend that the inevitability of death makes all ambition in life pointless.

Peter Wessel Zapffe's view is that humans are born with an overdeveloped skill (understanding, self-knowledge) which does not fit into nature's design. The human craving for justification on matters such as life and death cannot be satisfied, hence humanity has a need that nature cannot satisfy. The tragedy, following this theory, is that humans spend all their time trying not to be human. The human being, therefore, is a paradox.

In '' The Last Messiah'', Zapffe described four principal defense mechanisms that humankind uses to avoid facing this paradox:

# Isolation is "a fully arbitrary dismissal from consciousness of all disturbing and destructive thought and feeling".
# Anchoring is the "fixation of points within, or construction of walls around, the liquid fray of consciousness". The anchoring mechanism provides individuals with a value or an ideal to consistently focus their attention on. Zapffe also applied the anchoring principle to society and stated that "God, the Church, the State, morality, fate, the laws of life, the people, the future" are all examples of collective primary anchoring firmaments.
# Distraction is when "one limits attention to the critical bounds by constantly enthralling it with impressions". Distraction focuses all of one's energy on a task or idea to prevent the mind from turning in on itself.
# Sublimation is the refocusing of energy away from negative outlets, toward positive ones. The individuals distance themselves and look at their existence from an aesthetic point of view (e.g., writers, poets, painters). Zapffe himself pointed out that his produced works were the product of sublimation.

According to Donald A. Crosby:

See also

*Absurdism
* Cosmicism
* Dysteleology
*Existence precedes essence
*Logotherapy
*''Man's Search for Meaning''
*Meaning (existential)
*Meaning of life
*Philosophical pessimism

References

{{Existentialism

Nihilism
Philosophy of life
Types of existentialism