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  • Is Nihilism Always Bad?

    Posted by matt-lafleur on July 25, 2019 at 8:22 am

    As a guy who likes to meddle with philosophical ideas, I viewed nihilism, the belief that nothing matters, as my greatest foe. Especially in the lives of people with Friedreich’s ataxia, I choose to battle against hopelessness, so I always gravitated towards a more existential philosophical view.

    Recently, I saw this video: “Optimistic Nihilism.” It intrigued me. I never thtought it was possible to be both nihilistic and optimistic.

    What do you think? Is your philosophical view more nihilistic, existential, or something else? Why?

    jonathan replied 4 years, 8 months ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
  • 3 Replies
  • jonathan

    Member
    July 25, 2019 at 4:22 pm

    Even with this optimistic spin, yes, nihilism is bad. The video mentions to pursue what is meaningful, which I agree with, but it conflates meaningfulness and happiness. They’re not synonymous. Pursuit of happiness is a slippery slope. You might become a slave to your senses and, i.e., progress into an obese glutton, a heroin addict, a shameless attention seeker…and worse…or a mix. These pitfalls of human nature (there’s all kinds — 7 cardinal sins is a decent breakdown) have been warned about and discussed for a long, long time.

    Slaves to their senses and emotions suffer much, much more when their mood consumes them and/or their sources of happiness are gone. When you’re on a mission with meaning, you can happily suffer.

    • matt-lafleur

      Member
      July 25, 2019 at 4:26 pm

      “When you’re on a mission with meaning, you can happily suffer.”

      I like that. I will think on it.
      Your take sounds very existential, maybe mixed with stoicism (as existentialism should be). Do you disagree?

      • jonathan

        Member
        July 25, 2019 at 7:40 pm

        I don’t know what kind of labels describe me. They’re not that important.

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