Is there an argument against nihilism?
Isn't it the most "meaningful" realization and the last frontier of philosophical thought?
Is there an argument against nihilism?
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>there's no one telling me what to do
>so i can't do anything
>so sad. no meaning.... :'((
This has nothing to do with nihilism
Is there an argument against solipsism?
No, not an entirely convincing one. But philosophy kept advancing beyond it.
>Is there an argument against nihilism?
"Meaning" is a human concept, not something found in nature. This doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Compare it with a written language, not found in nature but nonetheless something that exists. Nihilists are ex-theists who still want the false certainty of a god without the mental gymnastics required to reconcile a god with reason.
>Nihilists are ex-theists
How did you come to this conclusion?
Anyone who's interested in philosophy starts out with nihilism, then moves on to other philosophies, before, ultimately, coming full circle and ending up with nihilism again
What do you mean by nihilism? Metaphysical nihilism? Try it if you think this is the most profound of ideas.
Sounds to me you are simply still batteling with ideas of the divine.
If you got a brain you will get over it eventually.
I meant existential and epistemological nihilism.
By meaning you are talking about a purpose, a sense that you are important to others and you have the power to make some difference..
Do you not have any interpersonal connections? Do you not interact and help people? Do you serve no purpose for your relatives and loved ones? There is instrinsic meaning and purpose to your life from the realities and history of your life.
You first exist, act and then think about your purpose and place.
You're essentially arguing semantics, though. There's no perceivable intrinsic meaning to any of my conscious experiences
My choice of words was bad, I shouldn't have said meaningful, but I don't know how else to describe it. Fundamental?
God exists
Objective fact
What's the difference between solipsism, nihilism and absurdism? They seem to boil down to the same thing.
Solipsism states that the only thing we can be certain of is our own existence. Absurdism is more about how we are driven to find meaning even though the universe does not seem to care. It doesn't state that there is no meaning like nihilism, but instead states it's not within human reason to know whether there is a meaning or not. It also states one should not forsake reason for this and that one should learn to love the struggle. Something is futile when you can't reach a goal, absurdism doesn't care about the goal, but rather the process.
Then again I blasted through myth of Sisyphus and haven't read any other Camus except for the essays in the back of that edition. Anyone care to expand?
Do you guys think epistemological skepticism is all we can get? What do you guys think of the Munchhausen Trilemma?
>Solipsism states that the only thing we can be certain of is our own existence
Isn't that true no matter how you look at it?
I'm a scrub at this, but someone explain.
Why does meaning have to be externally imposed? Hows that even possible? Like, if something made all this, why the fuck would it fundamentally matter what it wants, or count as ultimate meaning?
I think meaning is only found by yourself, by thinking it through to some degree. If you think its meaningful to follow a gods wishes, or whatever outside force you think dictatest yoru meaning, then you still found that yourself for yourself.
This doesn't necessarily mean that it can be arbitrarily chosen though, we are still all humans and it would be similar for all of us.
You can't even be certain of your own desu baka senpai
Why not?
Well there's Hume's bundle theory and Nietzsche's "it thinks therefore it is" but you would have to exist to know. I'm not sure if that necessitates it being the only thing we can know though. How does one know more if they can only know their existence? Make yourself bigger? A universe-sized brain? Just throwing an unrefined idea out there
>Why the fuck would it matter what it wants?
Good point. You can always choose for yourself. In that sense meaning is only a subjective thing.
The question also seems to pertain to ontological problems though. I know It's about meaning but if someone asks you what the meaning of a computer is you might be compelled to give them the reasons for It's existence in the first place and why it is needed. There doesn't seem to be anything like this for man, but the question also could be interpreted that there was a purpose or decision behind man, which there doesn't appear to be. It's also close to, "what makes life worth living or why live?" We then have this idea to attribute a reason or thing that makes life worth living, and this that becomes the meaning of life.
>What do you guys think of the Munchhausen Trilemma?
"Reason is" is an axiom and the only reason why the trilemma (or anything like it) functions. It's subject to its own rules.
Do you think everything could eventually boil down to this sort of format?
I don't know much about philosophy, but I assume so. I don't think that anything is self evident beyond I AM, and a world of limitless possibilities is best understood through a limitless set of hypothetical laws.
Makes sense. I wonder how I'll think about this as I read more. Thanks for the reply
>What do you guys think of the Munchhausen Trilemma?
an infinite regress of justification is not as absurd of an idea as people keep saying it is is what I think.
nihilism isn't meant to be a 'stopping point', absurdism or existentialism is.
how so?
a true nihilist would just end his own life, while an existentialist would preserve it.
Are true 'nihilists' as common as 'gnostic atheists'?
No.
It's hard to even understand what are your points, anons, but I'll try to summarize how I read it:
>nihilism isn't an effective strategy to be happy
>when you can't prove/disprove something, it's pointless to talk about it
>you can still choose to create meaning if you want to
>broad observation?
>I think you are talking about metaphysics. if you are talking about metaphysics then you haven't gotten over metaphysics. get over metaphysics. did I tell you I dislike metaphysics?
>meaning is a feeling. feelings are real and make up objective reality
Good Wiki article.
>same idea as above
Here's a few (You)s in advance, so you can take a break: (You)(You)(You)(You)
>meaning is subjective
>trying to explain solipsism
can't be disproved mate.
>we make meaning to create a purpose for ourselves
damn this was a hard one
>the trilemma is circular reasoning itself
cannot be disproved. off to other philosophical questions!
>regressive reasoning is better than axiomatic and circular reasoning
"Turtles all the way down" kind of guy, huh? I like circular reasoning, myself, because an argument which explains everything and doesn't contradict with anything seems like an ideal state of mind.
>nihilism is meaningless itself, however there are other ideas which give nihilism meaning (lol)
It doesn't make sense neither to kill yourself nor continue living, but this means that you will keep living because instinctive avoidance of death exists
Did I get it right, anons? Please learn to write.
u did good bb
I never understood why people keep searching for some kind of punchline to life. Is their existence so pittyful they need to justify it by abstract higher purpose?
whats the difference between absurdism and nihilism, and why should i choose one over the other?
Absurdism is slightly more edgy and isn't really paid much by actual philosophers.
Nihlism=life has no meaning
Absurdism=life cant have meaning because can always say "but why does that matter?" To any meaning
>edgy
Your opinion is automatically invalidated