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Lexicon.

nihilism

noun [ˈnaɪəˌlɪzəm]
pronunciation CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, open source

Nihilism is the view that life has no inherent meaning and that moral values or certain knowledge lack any foundation; loosely, a rejection of all accepted authority.

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Definitions

  1. In philosophy: the position that there are no objective values, no built-in purpose to existence, or no knowledge that can be held with certainty.
    source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
  2. A general attitude of rejecting established rules, institutions and authorities, usually without putting anything in their place.
    source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
  3. In history: the radical movement in nineteenth century Russia whose members aimed to destroy the existing political, religious and social order.
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Examples

Usage

Outside philosophy seminars, nihilism is most often an accusation. Calling a film, a band or a political movement nihilistic suggests that it mocks everything and stands for nothing. Writers frequently narrow the word with an adjective: moral nihilism concerns right and wrong, epistemological nihilism concerns knowledge, and existential nihilism concerns whether a human life can have any meaning at all. In casual speech people may also say they are feeling nihilistic when they simply feel that nothing matters.

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The noun usually appears in the singular and without an article, as in a drift toward nihilism or a philosophy of nihilism. Typical verbs are embrace, reject, slide into and overcome. The person is a nihilist and the adjective is nihilistic, which collocates with outlook, humour, violence and worldview. The plural nihilisms is uncommon and appears mainly when an author compares several distinct versions of the idea.

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Nihilism should be kept apart from neighbouring words. A sceptic doubts that we can be sure of things, a cynic distrusts other people's motives, and a pessimist expects a bad outcome. A nihilist denies that the standards needed to judge anything as good, true or meaningful have any foundation in the first place. Used carelessly, the word becomes a general insult for anyone who questions tradition and loses its precise philosophical sense.

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Webster's dictionary of 1913 lists three senses: nothingness, the doctrine that nothing can be known, and in politics the theories and practices of the Nihilists. It describes a Nihilist in the political sense as a member of a secret association, especially in Russia, devoted to destroying present political, religious and social institutions. The modern sense of a meaningless universe, now the most familiar, is not spelled out in that entry.

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The 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, in its article on nihilism, places the start of the Russian movement in the early years of the reign of Alexander II and credits Turgenev with first using the term, in his novel Fathers and Children, published in 1862. The article traces how the current began among university students as a largely intellectual stance and soon turned into an anarchist revolutionary movement, and it recounts the plot that killed Alexander II in March 1881.

source Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., 1911, vol. 19, article Nihilism (D. Mackenzie Wallace) (in-house source, no external address)

Word forms

Regular forms according to English morphology (editorial description); the noun is mostly used without a plural.

word forms

przypadek forma
singular nihilism
plural nihilisms

Word forms: Editorial team

Collocations

Synonyms · Antonyms

Synonyms negativism, rejectionism, radical scepticism, anarchism
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Antonyms idealism, belief, conviction, moral realism
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Etymology

Built on Latin nihil, nothing, with the suffix -ism. Webster (1913) gives L. nihil, nothing, compares French nihilisme and refers the reader to annihilate. Skeat (1910) forms nihilist with the suffix -ist from L. nihil, nothing, defining it as one who rejects all positive beliefs, and under annihilate cites the related Latin nihilum, nothing.
source Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open source
also W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open source

Related words

Related entries

Questions and answers

What does nihilism mean?

Nihilism is the belief that nothing has lasting value or meaning. In philosophy it denies objective values, purpose or certain knowledge; in everyday speech it describes someone who rejects all rules and authorities without offering an alternative.

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Is nihilism the same as cynicism?

No. A cynic assumes people act only out of self-interest and therefore distrusts what they say. A nihilist goes further and holds that the values we might use to judge anyone have no foundation. Cynicism is about people; nihilism is about values themselves.

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What is existential nihilism?

It is the specific claim that human life has no inherent purpose or meaning. Many writers treat it as a starting point rather than a conclusion, asking how a person should live once that claim is accepted.

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What is a nihilist?

A nihilist is someone who holds or expresses nihilism. Historically the word also named members of a radical Russian movement of the nineteenth century. The adjective is nihilistic.

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