what is nihilism about why is it that "god is Dead"? explain to me please.

Very good question but it cant be summed up in a paragraph.

"God is dead" is more like saying that people are ceasing to believe in the cosmic order of things because there is no proof of a higher power and it is baseless.

That there is really no truth in traditional values and beliefs, and life is senseless and useless.

The main idea behind nihilism is the need for proof, there is no right or wrong its all just an opinion that cant be proven and no one is right and no one is wrong,

one should not make more assumptions than the minimum needed to make a conclusion.

The nihilist belive that there is a need to destroy traditional values and beliefs if society is going to advance any further.

There is alot more to it then that but its a pretty good general idea of the views of nihilism

hardcore nihilists have there own problems, starting out.

i see nihilism as seeing past the bullshit, and figuring out what really matters. go read the book fight club for a better understanding. nihilism has kinda merged with anti-consumerism as of recently.

www.anus.com (http://www.anus.com) and nihilisms home page are 2 good places to look.

I've been reading a bit of Baudrillard lately (postmodern theorist/cultural critic). He's not always easy to understand, but he grows on you.

An excerpt from his essay "On Nihilism" in the book SIMULACRA AND SIMULATION:

(Interesting fact: This is the hollowed-out book that Neo uses at the beginning of the Matrix, and the exact essay he turns to as well. Anyway, on to the excerpt...)

"I am a nihilist.

I observe, I accept, I assume the immense process of the destruction of appearances (and of the seduction of appearances) in the service of meaning (representation, history, criticism, etc.) that is the fundamental fact of the nineteenth century. The true revolution of the nineteenth century, of modernity, is the radical destruction of appearances, the disenchantment of the world and its abandonment to the violence of interpretation and of history.

I observe, I accept, I assume, I analyze the second revolution, that of the twentieth century, that of postmodernity, which is the immense process of the destruction of meaning, equal to the earlier destruction of appearances. He who strikes with meaning is killed by meaning.

The dialectic stage, the critical stage is empty. There is no more stage. There is no therapy of meaning or therapy through meaning: therapy itself is part of the generalized process of indifferentiation.

The stage of analysis itself has become uncertain, aleatory: theories float (in fact, nihilism is impossible, because it is still a desperate but determined theory, an imaginary of the end, a weltanschauung of catastrophe).

Analysis is itself perhaps the decisive element of the immense process of the freezing over of meaning. The surplus of meaning that theories bring, their competition at the level of meaning is completely secondary in relation to their coalition in the glacial and four-tiered operation of dissection and transparency. One must be conscious that, no matter how the analysis proceeds, it proceeds toward the freezing over meaning, it assists in the procession of simulacra and of indifferent forms. The desert grows."

- Jean Baudrillard

quote:Originally posted by fuckwar89:

what is nihilism about why is it that "god is Dead"? explain to me please.

BASICALLY! Nihilism is lame. Without beliefs we remove one of our most important techniques for acting as decent human beings. The world may or may not be ruled by blind causalty, but that is besides the point. Our minds are programmed to view the world as a series of inter-related images and metaphors, our minds aren't calculating as a computer's is.

Nihilism is just a worship of the machine universe, but taken to some kind of perverse and self destructive level

"The meaning of Nhilism" Does anybody else see that as being funny....I know it's not completely correct, yes there is meaning behind Nihilsm, but still, you can get a hoot, it's a fuckin Hoot.

Pro-Lifers~Murdering Doctors -BH

I'm surprised I haven't even seen a mention of Nietzche. Um yeah, but anyways...

Basically, nihilism is one of the choices an individual must make when he is confronted with his enslavement.

The other options are utter despair (stare into the abyss, I dare ya http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif)), which culminates in suicide.

Or you can be happy and laugh! Life is so funny. http://www.totse.com/bbs/biggrin.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/biggrin.gif)

Just read Nietzche.

quote:Originally posted by CheapShot:

BASICALLY! Nihilism is lame. Without beliefs we remove one of our most important techniques for acting as decent human beings. The world may or may not be ruled by blind causalty, but that is besides the point. Our minds are programmed to view the world as a series of inter-related images and metaphors, our minds aren't calculating as a computer's is.

Nihilism is just a worship of the machine universe, but taken to some kind of perverse and self destructive level

The point (yes, ironic) of nihilism is that there is no point. There is no meaning, existence just is. It doesn't mean you're going to stop being decent (whatever the fuck that's defined as).

I don't worship the 'machine universe', nor am I self destructive. I'm a rather relaxed fucker with a love for nature.

there are someself destructive nihilists, because they cant handle what the truth shows them. im not saying these ppl are weak per se, cause the truth is pretty rough at times.

im also not an unessicerly vicous bastard.

im also a pretty relaxed dood. just because i realize things are fundamentally broken, and accept flawsas coming with the territory of having a body, dosnt mean im a raving lunatic.

since taking on this philosophy, i see more clearly than ever what matters, and i truly let the rest slide. i dont get caught up in hopes or wishes of something. im sure everyone here agrees that hope has hurt more ppl than anything in the world.

but im not hopeless. im not some sad sack, depressed dood that sees the world and living as an exercise in futility. i just dont buy the lies, believe the hype, or put faith in my fellow man.

some say ignorance is bliss, i say ignorance is pain. facing the truth is the way out.

Its not that 'god is dead' its that there is no god. nihilists see past all of the superficial meaninglessness of religion.

Nihilists refute religion and traditional values because we believe that only without those things can society further itself. Authority and tradition, as well as reeligion only hinder the growth of people as a whole.

Personally, I feel that choices and a persons morals should not, and really can not be influenced by religious beliefs. We are individuals. We are not one autonomous being that is enslaved by religion and the thought of a god that controls us.

I see past all the lies and bullshit, much like the other nihilists in this post. I believe that not everything can be explained. I don't believe that what can be explained can be explained using god or religion.

Solar Absolute and Nihilism nailed it.

The chapter "On Nihilism" in Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation in about how telling us that rebelling against the system(government, religion, etc) in order to attain enlightenment is pointless. I just want to get that out of the way, Lolita.

Nihilists realize that it is the system that is destroying them, so they seek to destroy the system to end their own destruction.

i think niezche first wrote god is dead but you should all read thus spoke zarathustra

i see nilism as the realization that god doesnt exist and that there is no higher or even real purpose to life and the powerful will take over because they will be the only ones with any true purpose left in life

whatever you do don't read the will to power it is not niezches true thoughts it his sister playing around with his notes to fit her agenda