An Actual Philosopher Explains Nihilism

What Nihilism really means, and why it doesn't matter. Done in a film noir style, because, why
not?
#nihilism
#philosophy
#ethics

[@SerifSundown]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ppvboH2Cd66jd7M

[@aclark903]

Moral relativism is deeply problematic.

[@adebleswordfish]

I tend to think that life has inherent meaning in the sense that you’re experiencing it, I also think that morality is a gray scale, certain actions are pure good while others are purely bad and some are a kind of a gray area

[@tjerox3533]

Since there is no inherent meaning in anything you can give it any meaning you want. Your view is completely compatible with nihilism as long as you hold the view and the view is not the one holding you

[@zacharybennett3249]

BOOOO

[@adebleswordfish]

@@tjerox3533 I’d say my view is closer to absurdism, I tend to see meaning as absurd no matter the context & rebelling against it as a way to laugh at the pain of life while also loving the joys of it. You know the whole “one must imagine Sisyphus happy” line of reasoning. I also take from Thelema, Buddhism, and Advaita Vedanta.

[@jon6309]

Lol such a naive thing for a human to say. Did you ever consider how meaningful it was when you accidentally stepped on an ant 🐜 ? Probably not because it’s so tiny and insignificant from your perspective so just imagine the perspective of the grand universe. Humans are microscopic in comparison the a galaxy so the analogy of ants would be applied to us. There is no greater purpose or meaning to human life. If the Earth collapsed and humans were extinct it would go unnoticed with all the stars and galaxies that make up the universe. The universe will continue to exist with or without us so that confirms human life has no grand purpose or meaning even if we want to believe it does!

[@lavaradecaduceo8668]

I had an argument with a friend several years ago, I confessed that I was a radical skeptic and a bit of an nihilist too, and that I couldn't asure that there where an inherent good or bad in things, even if most data show us that there is nothing like good or bad in the world, or a reason in life, just a social construct done by people in order to stablish some kind of global norm of human behaviour for survival sake, just like religion, gods and fairies, I'm a scientist, my world is one built on knowledge, but my search for knowledge (Basically asking why) showed me that the foundations of knowledge as we know are just axioms that cannot be rationaliced or understood by human beings. At the end there are only two answers, you admit that you dont know and that you don't have the tools needed to reach an answer (You embrace the unknown and live with that), or you invent an answer that makes you feel good and act like it is totally real (You fear the unknown). Of course this two answers are just for the people able to make the right question, as I understand most people are simply unable to make questions about this sort of things, they think that they know so they don't even look for an answer they nor whant to listen to your questions. Oh, and I don't like to be a "nihilist" or a "skeptic" or anything like that, It just happens that I cannot see the world in any other way without thinking that I'm faking myself, and that feeling would be even worse than nihilism for me. In fact if there where a way to brainwash me and make me a happy productive sheep in society I would gladly pay to get it ASAP.

[@viajanteestelar8320]

Agreed, dude.

[@Đk暗い]

I LOVE THIS AND TOTALLY AGREE

[@d_no_allyn_86]

Beautifully said. I completely agree with all of this.

[@yg-sc2ci]

There are so many things talking about and trying to explain nihilism, from people who aren't nihilists in any way. I think that the best way to actually explain or talk about nihilism, is with nihilists.

[@DeliveryTruck...]

Yeah

[@steadycreeping8508]

Because the conversations and arguments actually leave you with new information to overthink about. Talking with someone who’s trapped in their own brain only leads to frustration once you realize that literally nothing you have said was heard.

[@snehangshubhattacharjee8072]

How do you know someone is actually a nihilist? If nihilism is to be taken seriously then there exists no nihilists either

[@indieeasmr7101]

I will try to persuade anyone who reads this to believe that right and wrong absolutely exists. Just not for any reason that philosophy tries to argue. As with most human behavior, our morals come directly from evolution and the ability to survive. The ability to do good things has one main objective. It helps you survive longer in your herd. Humans are naturally social animals. We like to surround ourselves in groups of other people because of our herd mentality. Its very simple. If you are face to face with a predator on your own, you'll probably die. If you are face to face with a predator and have a group of people with you, you have a better chance of surviving. This trend continues on into other aspect of our lives, but it just conforms to different situations. For instance, a bully at school will pick on the lonely nerd because they are an easier target. Society will ostracize a homeless person because they don't "fit in" to the herd. A workplace will fire someone who doesn't do their job because they are putting the herd at risk. All of this connects back to morals and the utility of knowing right and wrong. If you do the wrong thing, there will be negative consequences from the herd because you are putting everyone else at risk. The police will arrest you, the courts will sentence you. Your teacher will kick you out of the herd and send you to dentention... where you have to sit alone. Anything you do that doesn't create a positive impact for the herd is considered bad. That's why we have laws for society. That's why society has been built on certain tenants like the golden rule. The golden rule is just a principle about treating your herd well. Isn't it interesting that the emergence of nihilism came from Nietzche, a person born in the midst of the industrial revolution? Why is that interesting? Because the industrial revolution is the beginning of the end of herd mentality. We no longer need each other as much as we used to. We have technology to do everything for us. Once we broke through that barrier, philosophers started to realize that everything we had built as a society was bullshit. This is why we are all getting further and further apart from each other. Why would I go out with my herd when I can be in my safe home, with my gas heat to keep me warm, my TV to keep me occupied, my camera system to keep out intruders, and my pills to keep me sane? If I no longer need to feel accepted in a herd, why would I leave the comfort I have created for myself? Now philosophy doesn't think in terms like this. Philosophy is completely ethereal and abstract. Philosophy lives in the clouds. Biology and evolution lives on the ground. It sees things in practical ways. This is why philosophers constantly circle the same arguments over and over and find new things to pick out, without ever really getting it. Evolution and biology is the real source of our morals. Its rooted deeply in our development as an animal species. What do we have without morals? We have anarchy. Anarchy leads to the downfall of our survival. If you throw away the structures of society, you throw away the defenses we have created as a herd to protect ourselves. It all makes perfect sense when you look at it from an evolutionary standpoint.

[@zacharybennett3249]

Let the weak die then: If it's all an evolutionary game, then let nature take its course and create a better individual human or annihilate them for their failings.

[@Gh0stily111]

I literally got into an argument with someone today as they were adamant that I am not a nihilist because I have social anxiety and to be like the joker you must be confident, holy shit you wouldn’t believe the stupidity of the average person outside of online philosophy circles.

[@noheroespublishing1907]

I'm happy more people are being open to Nihilism.

[@jejethejeplalq821]

Wow, right here is the best definition of Nihilism out of all the videos i watched on KZbin. I'm a happy Nihilist too but after adding Stirner's Egoism to my personal philosophy cocktail and getting rid of my spooks made things even better. Feels good man :) Would be happy to hear your thoughts on Egoism too since this video was so great.

[@fernandoorozco5968]

Thank you, about Nihilism

[@levihudson1274]

Bro, you went off in this🔥🔥🔥

[@MrJamiez]

I am existential Nihilist, but How Can a Nihilist, believe in "Nihilism" is they, we, don't believe in anything Nihilism is something?

[@dragonslayergod]

Nihilism is just the word we give to it to identify the belief that nothing matters

[@ogerch7745]

@@dragonslayergod If Nihilism is essentially that you value nothing, would you say that you still value something that is "nihilism"? Its a sort of paradox philosophy in my opinion.

[@rednoir6484]

It may not be a value issue sir. It can be a choosing issue. I think this "nihilisim" notion has been created to make one's ideas more syatematic. Just like other notions that include ideas. I think one does not have to value nihilisim but still can agree with nihilisim.

[@varunupadhyay1576]

@@ogerch7745 Think of nihilism as a null set ;)

[@gogoi8091]

@@varunupadhyay1576 still it's a believe that the set is null, and if nihilism believes nothing then they should not believe in nihilism either.

[@jon6309]

I am very apathetic and can agree with a lot of the philosophies of nihilism and anti-natalism. I think human beings are the only creatures who show behaviors of being the most self centered and self absorbed. Most humans don’t care when they step on ants because they are tiny and insignificant but when looking at the grand scale of the universe human beings are microscopic in comparison to galaxies so we are no different than the ants we step on so nothing humans do truly matters on the grand scale! We are born, we live and we die. The universe goes on with or without us so there is no meaning or purpose to human life.

[@ximkai8794]

I've just discovered the term nihilism and I cannot seem to accept it. If existance is meaningless, why continue to exist? If everything is pointless, why interact with the world at all? There can never truly be nothingness, because even in the blackness of space, there is time and distance. I've been thinking all day what it is I believe towards the meaning of life. And the best answer I can come with so far, is that existance is life. We do not start a book or movie, usually, to race to the end. And rest assured, all things do end. But we enjoy the moments of time from it's beginning to end. Specifically, we are there to experience the existance of these characters in their world. The story and emotions of their life in that space. If everything is truly pointless, then why do humans have the urge to express themselves so beautifully? Why do we have music or art or literature at all? Perhaps your existance ends in death? But we know it doesn't. We still speak of Homer thousands of years after his death. Our heros get woven into legend and become timeless. Nobody even speaks Ancient Egyptian anymore, but we know who the pyramids were built for. And even at the end of our world. Existance will continue. There will be rocks on far away planets who never have to consider such notions of the meaning of their lives... but they will continue to exist none the less. Microbes on some gas planet, who's existance may one day spring life anew. Even after the last star dies, the universe, the darkness around it continues to exist.

[@smartalec2001]

It doesn't matter.

[@ieronim272]

made me spill my drink

[@kahhowong3417]

One will not find any meaning a purpose here.

[@finnharper7279]

what do you hope to find in truth and reality

[@joshuataylor3550]

A sense of authenticity, if such a thing exists.

[@finnharper7279]

@@joshuataylor3550 ik what these would provide, i'm asking why you would seek such a thing in the first place, too sleep better at night?.(sorry for the vague phrasing.).

[@joebyrd1119]

Pain

[@dennison2509]

Nihilism is more like a school of thoughts, not a belief, it's a lack thereof. That's what I think.

[@jonahda0mega]

My profile picture for 14 years

[@fabiennelowers3961]

I like this one

[@SumitKumar-nu2iy]

Agreed

[@andreiflamandu1969]

Is ok the way It Is 😁🧡😎🤙

[@nelsonway5352]

As a nihilist, im quite annoyed by people who think they know what is right or wrong, thats why i always have a good answer for them, i say, let see, based on their point of view, who can be a better person, for others and and for themself, and till today, i havent lost to anyone 😂 the only thing they "think" they're better than me is, because they make time to praise "Someone" on certain times or day 😂 and still, they believe that thing is good enough for them 😴

[@brandonbontrager7994]

bruh what

[@willofman]

Ah yeah if you are a nihilist logic doesn't apply to you because you can make no sense on a fundamental level anyways. Which means you can't be a "cold and logical" person, because that doesn't mean anything. In fact, if you believe in nihilism then you'd know you can't possibly declare nihilism, because that would also be inherently meaningless. But even that is a stretch since you knowing anything meaningful is impossible. And I love the fact that people who believe in morality acting out is some kind of "gotcha" moment for the nihilst. A nihilist would feel nothing so that's not very honest.

[@Heartstrings1234]

damn

[@StoneShards]

Yeah, nothing matters...but everything makes a difference! You "want to live in reality"?! Then stop using language!

[@joyybugg]

meh nihilism is still too focused on negation.

[@DashaAntonova548]

Better stop smoking dude

[@luciferscatmilk]

The cigarette and black and white filter is a nice, pretentious touch

[@SerifSundown]

Please don't overlook that I filtered the audio to lower its fidelity so I would also _sound_ more **pretentious** 😄.

[@unreactive]

That has always been my perspective, but I struggled to put it into words effectively. "Any behavior is compatible with nihilism." 🤌

[@bowzingay]

for a while now Ive been searching for what inherently makes things good or bad, but the more I searched the quicker I found out that a thing like that doesnt really exist and that thats okay. Just because there is no such thing as an inherent good, it doesnt mean we cant do whats good in our minds. Im really glad that theres many people out there that share my outlook on life

[@qlqqd5284]

Well, the actions itself are just actions, the problems comes when we, man, want to give a meaning, a new difference between the action 1 and the action 2, so that is incorrect in the meaning that nobody can knows exactly what is the essence of this action

[@jon6309]

Good and bad are artificially social constructs our society created to function when we transitioned from nomadic hunters and gatherers to permanent settlers. Laws had to be created artificially to allow such as system to exist because without it permanent settlements would be more chaotic and inefficient. Good and Evil was not something constructed naturally by the universe. The concept is much newer than the age of the universe itself.

[@Cander617]

Their is inherent good and bad tho so sorry to burst your existential bubble

[@XxDeathxX509]

We’ve made up that concept based on how that makes the average person “feel”. If you steal, the person stealing might feel guilt because they have a higher form of thinking than all the other animals. They have the capacity to imagine how the person that got robbed might feel after finding out they’ve been robbed. And vice versa. Things like this, along with obviously murder, the r word, etc fall into the same category of bad, but in the animal kingdom most of the animals don’t know how to differentiate that. Of course, there are those that do to an extent. Elephants mourn their dead, as do wolves and other social animals. But most animals don’t feel anything when they do these acts that we deem as “bad”. And it’s not their fault, they don’t have that capability to think like we do. It’s important for us to remember that, yes good or bad doesn’t technically exist in terms of universal standards but without that formula that we as a species came up with, the quality of life diminishes, and everything turns chaotic just like it is in the wild.

[@joshuataylor3550]

This is exactly what I've landed on after a recent health related existential breakdown.

[@muhammadfadilrizqullah9127]

Same dude. Next question to ourself is what's next isn't it

[@ytrichardsenior]

Right, you're on the important step of your existential crisis... Nietzsche says learn to love your fate whatever it might be. Dostoevsky and countless other people say, find god... Voltaire says do meaningless work and keep your mind off it. I like Epicurus.. He says, drink beer, love your family and friends, find fun and beauty where you can and keep it real...

[@TheSonOfPlato]

“One must imagine Sisyphus happy” ~ Camus

[@joyybugg]

why tho 😂

[@finnharper7279]

are you trying to say camus was nihilist?

[@TheSonOfPlato]

@@finnharper7279 no I’m not. Camus rejected nihilism as he saw it as the easy way out.

[@jackgeneium4184]

@@finnharper7279 he was an absurdist

[@mmilrl5768]

I’m doing a research paper on Absurdism and Camus rn 🤗

[@nanakon99]

coldly logical person thats a very good way of describing its nature. it can have a lot of negative things about it but its all about control. now i see why i dont easily sympathize when i see random people dying. i dont know why im not enthusiastic about life itself anymore or im just getting old.

[@encouraginglyauthentic43]

​@chetsenior7253So you didn't have any control over the comment you made?

[@joebyrd1119]

Life sucks...

[@encouraginglyauthentic43]

@@joebyrd1119 Do you have anyone to talk to about your depression?

[@joebyrd1119]

I don't know what I would say about it if I did.

[@lonelycubicle]

“… you want to live in reality … part of a larger search for truth.” Sounds like someone with a hierarchy of values, not nihilistic.

[@darkmatter4132]

he said that nihilism doesnt explicitlly tell you what to do

[@lonelycubicle]

@@darkmatter4132 True, but also, “… there’s no criteria you can use to decide how to behave …”, so when a person acts, there’s usually values for why the choice was made. Similar to how Chomsky said there’s no moral relativists.

[@zi8gzag]

Oh how quickly the nihilists reintroduced value hierarchies. As soon as they wake up and decide get out of bed, they are enacting them.

[@darkmatter4132]

@@lonelycubicle the thing about nihilism is that if you behaved towards the value of truth or the opposite it doesn't matter because in nihilsm there is no criteria like you have said. but name it as you like nihilism doesn't have values that are have inherently better than other values. My point here is that it doesn't matter if you just like blue color in a country that all people should dress up in blue because it's the right thing to do but you are just use the blue outfit out of personal prefrence not because its inherent rightness, that example may clarify things. The problem with your comment is that if you are going to say nihlists arenot nilihists because at some point in their livies they will make a decision and that willconvey their underlaying innate network of the hierarchy of values coded in their DNA, that won't lead us anywhere.

[@lonelycubicle]

@@darkmatter4132 You summarized my point correctly, but would say someone even like a no-free will biologist like Sapolsky would say it’s worthwhile to study how the complex interplay of biology and culture lead to behavior/values. Following is a quote about Sapolsky from Wikipedia if people don’t know who he is (has great lectures and entire courses on KZbin): “Robert Morris Sapolsky is an American neuroendocrinology researcher and author. He is currently a professor of biology, and professor of neurology and neurological sciences and, by courtesy, neurosurgery, at Stanford University.”

[@Luca_Meier]

I think this would be a disastrous Philosophy for humanity to take on. It may be working for people with a special kind of temperament, but surley not for everyone. I certainly don't have anyting against Nihilism, in fact I am very interested in it, but I think it would eventually lead to bad days.

[@intergalacticchicano]

Just like organized religion. Eventually humans ruin everything.

[@ShadowGaro]

So if nihilism were the correct philosophy, it would be better for us to pretend it wasn't?

[@writeordie5452]

The fact that you believe (or at least mention, rather decisively at that) that all of humanity could or should adhere to one single ism is quite telling. Let people be people and believe in what they want. There will never be one belief to rule them all. We will all live and then equally be dead, and then it's done.

[@zacharybennett3249]

Think harder

[@steadycreeping8508]

I may be a very aggressive nihilist but I my goal in my arguments aren’t to shift someone’s outlook of life. Simply aiming to have a productive conversation about a thing we’ll never know . The chances of our creators being snails with 50 inch cocks are not 0% you know? I don’t know if I can say I am a nihilist now that I think about it. I’m more a of a “believer of chaos”

[@embryawnic]

Private Pyle, this just means you are selfish. Not disagreeing that there isn’t truth to being partially nihilistic, but having that being a hill to die on is flat out insanity. I also disliked and want you to know that, since I can and hopefully what I said was a reflection of my point. Plus your smug personality is why nihilism as a practice philosophy is so taboo and why guys like this got bullied growing up, to be frank.

[@mazerunner7640]

The reason people have a Downlook on nihilism is just what you said “The belief of a coldly logical person”(prob not quoting correctly but close) Some of the worlds most logical people don’t feel much empathy and that is why they become so logical

[@slovnicurling9808]

Some people just can't live with the notion that life has no meaning. That we are not here for some reason. We just are and then we die. Everything between is in people's hand. But people don't realize that's a good think because that means you can give your life any meaning you want. You can help people, you can collect things, you can conquer mountains, you can do whatever you want, the possibilities are limitless. Life having no meaning is a good thing. I don't want to serve some god or some supernatural being, that's not the meaing I'm into.

[@lanceerickson9244]

Amen. But who or what hit you in the face?

[@SerifSundown]

I never saw his face. He came up swinging from the left and I've been deaf on that side ever since a fireworks accident in Chinatown. I received a tip on my latest case from an anonymous informant. They were supposed to be meeting me dockside but they never showed up, and when I woke up in the hospital I knew I'd gotten in over my head. Or, if you prefer the truth... the only thing that hit my face for this video was red acrylic paint and purple eye shadow.

[@sunset2.00]

You die the whole world dies in all purpose.

[@doriangray4642]

This is gonna be a long argument, so i hope that you will read it in its entirety. You say that ethics and moral good are an illusion. My question is: Are those clothes that you put on yourself, to shield yourself from cold, an illusion? Is the heater in your home an illusion? Is the food you eat, that you can find on every corner of today's world, an illusion? Is the water that you drink, that is so conveniently put everywhere, an illusion? Is that cigar you smoke an illusion, the alcohol you drink, and many other good things? My argument is, that humanity decided, approximately, 10 000 years ago to create society. And to use the joint action of humans to create a much better and safer world for us to live in. So now you don't have to hide in caves to shield yourself from cold and animals who want to eat you. Instead you have houses, clothes, and heaters, and also humans no longer have natural predators who hunt us and eat us. You also no longer need to hunt in order to survive every single day, and also risk being killed or injured by your prey. The food is conveniently put on every single corner around you. Furthermore, you no longer need to dig holes in the ground to search for water and pray that you will find it. You have taps and tubes that bring that water to you. And so on, you get the picture. But what does this have to do with MORALITY and being GOOD? Well, the only reason society still exists and you have all those things is because humans have decided to work together to preserve that, to be good to one another, and not be selfish, because we need each other in order for this to work. We need us to work together to sustain this, and everyone who does BAD and is selfish and corrupt, is regressing us collectively to a Less Developed State, which is making us go backwards. Only by doing good to your fellow humans can this society sustain its self, and not fall apart. Just like a Spartan Phalanx, every soldier was protecting the one standing next to him and not himself, and that is one of the reasons Spartans were the strongest military in Ancient Greece.

[@Kyler976]

I’m not really sure what argument you’re making. Do you believe morality is objective?

[@brandonbontrager7994]

I find nihilism agreeable in many ways so I think I'm gonna take a crack at this. First of all, I see what you're trying to say about morality being real, but I don't think you adequately established that foundation by comparing items of objective reality and applying that because objective items exist, morality must be objective. It doesn't matter what we have access to or how we're living now whether or not morality exists or not. Since you didn't touch on whether or not life has a purpose, I'll ignore existential nihilism and stick with moral nihilism. What a lot of people don't understand about moral nihilism is that it's not a belief that morals don't exist, but rather that morals are inherently purposeless and non-objective. In other words, they're not rooted in reality and are essentially made up. There's nothing compelling anyone to follow any morals, and morality is fluid and dictated by what humans choose to value. This is why there's no answer to whether abortion is bad or not; whether doing drugs is bad or not; etc. If I asked you why murder is bad, you'd say something like it's against the law. Well, why is it against the law? Maybe it's because killing is bad. Well, why is killing bad? Probably because humans assign value to life, and say that taking that life away is stealing something from someone, and therefore it's bad... okay, so why is stealing bad? And it just goes on. Ultimately it's a neverending question of "why" and it's fair in my head to say that there is no answer: we made it up. You seem to believe there is an inherent good within people to do the right thing and help each other. I do not relate to this at all, nor do I see this in practice with how many people clearly want to see the world burn and couldn't care less about the lives of others. It's also ironically because of the wildly differing philosophies and takes on life that make me realize that not only is there no inherent good in humans, but there is no inherent anything in humans either. Morals, values, society, all these social constructs, it's all made up and subjective. To compare, some might say math is a tangible universal truth and was discovered by humans, where others might say math is a tool created by humans to understand the universe around us. Replace the word "math" with "morality" and then you have the latter statement as the crux of moral nihilism. Practically in my life, I practice stoic principles, which believe in universal character principles such as justice, courage, wisdom and something else. I find that stoicism and nihilism blend very well together, since stoicism tells that everything external is out of your control (among a shitload of other things) and nihilism preaches that there is no objective meaning to anything we live. I find that I can apply both principles and accept that the morals that I follow are made up and it doesn't necessarily break my belief structure. It works for me and I have found no reason to shift my worldview to something else.

[@Caineea]

@@Kyler976 he's lost in the matrix bro, hopefully he finds the way.

[@Someone-ft5lw]

Can you simplify your Paragraph, im too lazy to read it.

[@Kyler976]

@@Caineea Hah. I'm just confused because he claims to have made an argument in the first sentence yet I didn't see one. I'm actually curious what his stance is on moral nihilism is.

[@nanevak]

My solution is absurdism

[@user-fg9lq9qc4n]

Which is actually nihilism with extra steps backwards.

[@willc5208]

@@user-fg9lq9qc4n no it’s not😂😂

[@fernandoorozco5968]

my choice will be optimistic nihilism

[@joyybugg]

@@user-fg9lq9qc4n true

[@cheeseandonions9558]

Nihilism doesn't claim "everything is meaningless", but rather, there's no underlying anchor on which you can rely.

[@MortSociety]

I love Nietzsche and Camus; they are my favorite trolls.

[@thesenate5913]

Life has inherently no meaning, but you can make your own meaning out of it. That's how i interpret it.

[@vond5829]

Asking for the meaning of Life is like asking for the meaning of an apple or the number "1", they're just simply are and they're whatever you think of them to be. Life is life, it is what it is. People shouldn't ask themselves "What's the meaning of life?" but instead ask "How to survive/thrive in life?". because life is a thing of chaos, and living is a constant push against chaos to bring orders.

[@themasterbandit]

Now that right there kids, is man who is transforming from a nihilist to an existentialist.

[@jon6309]

Lol why waste the time and effort to apply meaning to something when it’s meaningless anyway. Think of the last time you stepped on an ant, did you think how significant that was for the ants? Probably not because they are small and insignificant when compared to humans. When you compare the scale of humans to the grand universe we are microscopic when compared to the galaxy we live in. This proves humans are insignificant and do not have a grand purpose we like to believe in. If the Earth exploded today and humans went extinct it would probably go unnoticed by the rest of the universe with all the other stars and galaxies overshadowing our existence. The universe will continue regardless if we are around or not so it proves we are truly insignificant.

[@thesenate5913]

@@themasterbandit is that a good thing or a bad thing

[@1ksubswithoutavideochallen664]

@@jon6309 true, objectively meaningless, even though a subjective mind can generate its own purpose in this world, that purpose is not universal and it lasts only till the subjective mind believes in it

[@sourcebrowney2024]

Well I'm a happy nihilist made us hope for something that we all could be wrong .

[@guntherfeist9760]

Nihilism also hat to be denied. Only than you will become a true nihilist.

[@Denys_Fresh_Flesh]

believing in Nothing at the same time not believing in nothing nor anything, knowing that nothingness doesn’t exist because nothing is real.

[@brandonbontrager7994]

Lol that's such a dumb paradox that it made me laugh

[@mpcc2022]

Nihilism is a cultural critique of traditional western thought on ethics and morality, but is more a step away from historical norms of moral reasoning than a position to necessarily be arrive at by reasoning from an evidential standpoint.

[@niviera7807]

Not exactly, Nihilism is a critique of the moral itself, it doesn’t just includes western culture.

[@mpcc2022]

@@niviera7807 The idea of the moral itself or that there exist a definite thing in itself to critique is a western analytic view endemic to the history of western philosophy.

[@zacharybennett3249]

What'd you edit?

[@mpcc2022]

@@zacharybennett3249 The comments are the same in content of the original comments; however, the original comments featured some grammar and spelling errors, so I edited them to what you read.

[@niviera7807]

@@mpcc2022 Based

[@Marcissus]

I don’t care

[@MrJamiez]

You cared enough to search up "Nihilism" look through multiple videos, watch the video & comment? You do care. 🤐

[@annymus4502]

@@MrJamiez Who cares if he cares? He still has free will to search this up

[@pranjaltiwari1663]

He is saying that he is a Nihilist, that is the reason he does not care.

[@joshuataylor3550]

Think you missed the joke.

[@Marcissus]

@@joshuataylor3550 I think you did too

[@rosemaryallen2128]

Why do I feel that this very clever and stylishly creative person has been horribly hurt somewhere along the line?

[@dfredankey]

We are all hurt but he’s just a human expressing his thoughts that he didn’t even originally conjure I like the idea of nihilism and existentialism and even “optimistic nihilism” our mortality is often hard for us to confront

[@doesntexist9544]

its really funny how people are going around calling their own life meaningless

[@Azariy0]

Me searching "nihilism debunked" to improve my beliefs only for all the videos to misinterpret the philosophy. By the way nihilism is so freeing, just knowing that you can do whatever you want is incredible. I guess I can see how my words can be misinterpreted right now, hahahahaha ;)

[@JN-bw2wp]

Yeah I get it. I am sure there are people that think Nihilistic people are pure evil and will do destructive things. And you may think theyre dumb. Of course there are nihilists that won't do extreme behaviors like setting bridges on fire because "hey it doesn't matter and it could be thrilling". It's the act itself that makes people think that this person "doesn't give a ****", therefore nihilism is to be blamed. We all know that each human being will come across many moments in life where they can make a selfish decision if they know they can get away with it. Maybe the problem with a nihilistic viewpoint would be that a nihilist will almost always make the selfish decision if they know they can get away with it. It doesn' t necessarily have to be extreme. For example, if one finds a wallet full of cash with an address on it, would you bet on the nihilist or someone that believes in God to return it? Here's the million dollar question: Would you rather someone with a nihilistic viewpoint on life to rule the world with absolute power over your family, friends, and everything you love or would you rather someone that believes in God?

[@Dr._EvilL]

What i got from nihilism in this video is that no one does anyone any favors, being mean to another person does not exist, there is no such thing as an unfair acts of cruelty, sadism/masochism, tyranny, towards yourself and your fellow men and you will always know what is the right situation to hurt someone or not ... Fucking bullshit. Not everyone are as educated and protected as you from failure, You and the world can be dangerous, be cautious that's all. People need to understand that they can change.

[@dmzmindcraft5810]

what you described is not what it means, if you zoomout of your perspective, you will find that ultimately whatever we do as living beings it doesn't matter since we will ultimately all die and that's what's called 'existential nihilism'. same thing for morals, todays time buying humans is one of the most hated crimes, but not long ago it was totally normal as crossing the street, so if you act "good" based on todays morals, it might be considered a hated crime in the future and verse versa, and that's moral nihilism.

[@Dr._EvilL]

@@dmzmindcraft5810 What is the meaning of rape for you? (Not coming from some personal experience) if nihlism is really about self sufficiency and thinking for yourself then you have to take thoughts and actions into account aka responsibility for your actions. It's very convenient being a nihilist when you're in prison don't you think?

[@BadPerson789]

Nihlism isn't about anything that's the point

[@RicklessSanchez]

To me Wow nihilism hate me how people keep saying I don't believe anything of you. Well they need to stop hate over me and leave me if not they complete @$$holes at me even those kids having nihilistic too. Bunch of dishonorable people they behave but no reason to be hate over me.

[@bkhan19]

"People who believe in morality aren't treating others as shit" - thats what you feel. It doesn't matter. People who believe in morality can continue or even treat others as shit. A nihilist expressing opinion is as good as a nihilist expressing opinion. In the end it does not have any meaningful value.

[@Lookybear427]

The man speaks the truth

[@Phantom86d]

Pretentious. For anyone else who noticed, Pretentious. The almost subliminal blip was Pretentious. Double entendre intended.

[@TheFlyestNihilist]

This is a great video

[@ulrikfriberg8995]

How come noone on the internet seems to have mentioned the extremely obvious counter argument to Nihilism? - Namely Good and bad emotions/feelings/sensations. Consciously experiencing bad and good emotions are undeniably the strongest and most direct manifistations of the concepts bad and good, in all of reality. How can any conscious individual deny that intense bad and good emotions matters in a real sense? Yes, I am aware that objective reasoning might be technically unable (or incompatible) to motivate that good and bad emotions matter in a real sense. But let´s make a thought experiment where we expose all consciousnesses to astronomically intense torture (some kind of super hell) until the heat death of the universe. How could anyone deny that this would matter in a real sense? Appearently Nihilists do. This is infinitly absurd to me. I am infinitly confused. How are they even able to hold such a mental model in their head? Like, I truly want to understand this.

[@SerifSundown]

You're correct that a completely objective morality is an unrealistic goal. An ethical framework that only accounts for the psychological state of human beings is all we really need, and that's much simpler. However, even only considering impacts on human psychology, all proposed ethical systems have their issues. What you're contrasting Nihilism with, I would call Ethical Hedonism (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonism#Ethical_hedonism), which has well known limitations. You intuit correctly that if I were being subjected to supernatural torture, I would definitely say it was "real" and "mattered." But accepting my experience as morally authoritative leads to odd conclusions. Killing every human painlessly while they sleep cannot be "bad" if only negative experience is bad. Hooking every human up to a morphine drip, or inserting them into The Matrix must be "good", if only positive experience is good. If God is evil, and seeks to destroy all that is beautiful in the world, I should help him to avoid having to suffer His wrath and the pain of hell, if pain is what is most real (a concept I've heard called "masochistic epistemology", i.e. whatever hurts is true). See also, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_monster. Pragmatically, I do what feels good and avoid what feels bad, because these feelings are experientially very real and hard to ignore, as you suggest. But intellectually, I'm a nihilist; I know that my feelings do not authoritatively define good/bad, and thus it's not immoral for me to ignore those feelings in certain situations. And that's probably for the best. If I believed that all the worst things I've experienced in my life objectively mattered, I might have died by suicide a long time ago. But while good/bad experience is not a perfect basis for morality, it's probably the system most people are using in practice, and the thing most likely to persist as the basis of an illusory ethical system, which from a pragmatic point of view, is a useful thing to have. As a Nihilist, I would not necessarily prevent you, myself, or anyone else from making decisions using a hedonistic, utilitarian, or any other kind of moral framework, because they can all be practically useful and I see them all as equally non-authoritative. Nihilism is really the freedom to be morally pragmatic, and not dogmatic, and as such, doesn't need to be "countered". And that really is my thesis. Nihilism seems to scare people, and it really shouldn't. The existence of only one correct answer combined with the impossibility of ever knowing it for certain, I find much more frightening.

[@ulrikfriberg8995]

@@SerifSundown Well, I am still extremely confused, but I really liked this response! It gave me a lot to think about. I have now been reading about Hedonism and utility monsters and I am looking forward to doing further studies into all these subjects.

[@Denys_Fresh_Flesh]

if you like to think a lot about anything or nothing you can easily find threads of aether, i mean logical chains that drives your mind as far as you want or need, but it trends to go in circles or deeper into a spiral, many people just like to close any idea into a circle ⭕️ thinking it’s enough for a conclusion, but any idea can go deeper and deeper into that spiral until you find arguments enough to make a thesis. But the intriguing part is that any idea or thesis has it’s antithesis which is the same thread of aether going in opposite direction into another spiral deeper enough to cancel the idea or to make you realize that this another logic can have results in that certain topic. So there is nothing absolutely true or no system that can’t be canceled or denied by an opposite logic or simply denied for nothing or no logic because yes or because no. Nothing really matter or could matter at the same time.

[@DeliveryTruck...]

@@Denys_Fresh_Flesh I couldn't agree more

[@Denys_Fresh_Flesh]

@@DeliveryTruck... thanks, the useful thing about this “thesis-antithesis” matter is that you can use both for any purpose; what people don’t understand is that the mind and ideas that come from it is only useful as A TOOL, i don’t like religions but when I think about -let’s say- a Christian or a Muslin family that reach some relative order and well being in their lives and have healthy kids with good values useful for themselves and the society around, 👏👏 congratulations, their believes worked for them; they were one of the useful tools that subjectively builded a happy life for them. But of course there is exemptions a lot, that happens often when their believes becomes “absolute”; here’s where the eraser is needed or better to get a lobotomy if that is deeply stocked in your mind. I’ll say that values are better based on a common sense than based on dogmas; dogmas use values as part of their engineery to get screwed in communities.

[@hoytevanhoytema2660]

decadent nihilist

[@hanskung3278]

He smokes cause hes a nihilist.

[@slovnicurling9808]

Seriously considering giving you dislike just for the one frame message. I hate those. Why? What is the reason? Are you trying to piss people? I'm with you man but this grinds my gears.

[@SerifSundown]

My intention was to capture the Film Noir aesthetic as best I could in the video. I did a lot of research to accomplish the correct look and sound. But when reviewing my footage I thought I came off sounding too pretentious. So I wanted to insert a text overlay to highlight the point where I thought I sounded the most pretentious to indicate my self-awareness of that fact, and encourage viewers not to take my amateur acting too seriously. But overlays and titles were never used in Film Noir, so I thought the inclusion ruined the look I was going for. So, I made it sort of a subliminal insert instead. I know from the view-retention graph for this video that a lot of people don't even notice it. Please note that I don't control how many views a video gets. If I had known so many people would watch this one, I would have done some things differently.

[@lauraanderson7358]

cheap happiness ? or sublime suffering ?

[@Canadian_Eh_I]

If purpose doesnt matter, why do so many people search for it?

[@SerifSundown]

My theory... people have a desire to survive thanks to the selective pressures of Darwinian evolution. Sitting on your butt doing nothing is historically a terrible way to survive, and therefore humans are adapted to find inaction and the absence of concrete goals to be psychologically unpleasant. The absence of purpose or meaning implies that there is no ultimate goal to pursue. Consequently, no person ever needs to take any action or have any immediate goal. A person doesn't need to exist at all. Thus the notion of a meaningless or purposeless existence is at odds with the psychological drive to take actions to pursue goals and survive. Therefore, people search for purpose to avoid this biologically programmed unhappiness. I have a lot more to say on the topic in future videos.

[@Canadian_Eh_I]

@@SerifSundown Right. So surely this is the first time in history where we can choose to have no purpose and not soon die due to inaction. People can sit on their butts if they wish for much of the day, at least in first world countries. Interesting...I suppose this explains the rise in nihilism?

[@Bossabot]

@@Canadian_Eh_I Why would this be the first time in history? Humans have the innate ability to comprehend and interpret reality far more than any other species. A philosophically intelligent species is at one point bound to find nihilism. We have evolved too far as a species and our intelligence may be what ends us. We have reached the point societally that we understand the pointlessness of existence. But in the end, the purpose and meaning of life are for each individual to decide. We are what give it its meaning.

[@precogunitking]

@@Canadian_Eh_I nihilism is not a choice, it is a destination reached through logical reasoning in favor of emotional reasoning. A nihilist does not choose to be a nihilist, they simply figure out what the term "nihilist" means and realize it describes them. Consider this: if every single human on earth died, how would that affect Mercury or Venus? What impact would it have on Jupiter or Saturn? Or the sun? Or the billions of other planets in the observable universe? ..... 0%. The answer is 0%. Billions of other planets would remain exactly the same, because you and I have no cosmic relevance. As far as the sun is concerned you never existed in the first place 🤷‍♂️

[@BrandonsAscension]

Because what else are you going to do ?

[@joejackson2102]

Imagination seems the crux.

[@XxDeathxX509]

The problem with nihilism is that it only works if you’re living a good life. A life that in your own eyes is worth living. But someone would, say, insurmountable debt, a divorce, starving and/or poor, the only thing that can keep someone going beyond a bad life like that is faith. Faith that things will get better, faith maybe in religion, that this is all part of some big plan. But it backfires with nihilism. Because on top of losing everything or never having anything you’re left with the idea that it doesn’t matter. Nothing you do will change anything in the grand scheme of things. So why bother to keep going? A life without purpose means to be happy to live life as comfortable as possible and it may even be enjoyable to bask in the beauty the world has to offer. But this world has about triple the amount of bad than there is beauty, and any beauty left you see your own species destroying it. From the animals that live in suffering to the green terrains we destroy for more houses to the very air, once rich with vegetation that we pollute everyday. Our purpose, in my opinion (so obviously not a fact) is that we should all strive to help this planet as much as we can because we’re the only species capable of doing so. We should encourage the fruition of wildlife, make landscapes as beautiful as they can be, make sure our oceans aren’t polluted, and life up our species by getting rid of things like currency and power that feed into our inherently greedy nature. But thats a dream only possible in an alternate reality. Not this one, where greed and murder wins. So what’s left? Live your life as happy and comfortable as possible. If you don’t have that, which the majority of the world doesn’t since most people are on the brink of poverty, worldwide as a whole, you’re left with your philosophy. And nihilism tells you to throw all that away. It’s important to note that nihilism isnt for everyone. Only for people that can afford to think like that, with lifestyles that will benefit, not hold them back

[@funkymunky]

What is truly life-denying? To imagine others, and oneself, happy, or to universalize a code of ethics based on its antithesis? Careful what you wish for...

[@mpcc2022]

To be a Nihilist is to be a Christian without a God to point to as the reason for why; who's honest about their philosphical position of having no why. Though, I can't say I'm much of a fan of Christians.

[@dmitriymakovkin]

How can we take abstract manmade concepts like "meaning" or "ethics" and examine them "objectively" from a POV that's one level above life? I think the nihilist is taking words from different contexts and using those words to say something new which seems to sound sensible but is actually a misuse of language. Wittgenstein's thoughts immediately come to mind: "We feel that even if all possible scientific questions be answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all. Of course there is then no question left, and just this is the answer. The solution of the problem of life is seen in the vanishing of this problem. Is not this the reason why men to whom after long doubting the sense of life became clear, could not then say wherein this sense consisted?"

[@gen-x-zeke8446]

I think there doesn't have to be a meaning to mean something. Why do we want to 'know' anything in the study of philosophy anyway? If we knew, we couldn't philosophize about it and present arguments. SJW proud and loud!!!!!

[@charlesastle2077]

for being nihilist some of you use a lot of words.. which are symbols. and not the mirror of nothingness as say a responses of emotion where's the door what are we here 4.. and so we answer in our inner self voice to love accept lead that self unseen but which is becoming less an un bounded

[@godnyx117]

Reminds me of "The Joker" from DC been "super sane". You guys should look it up!

[@neptunevibe]

Joker is a good nihilist. That's more important and loved than batman.

[@zacharybennett3249]

I find you intriguing: What would you say to the idea that we are The Void, manifest; informing our physical beings with the happenings of existence, living as the boundary between not being and having never been, but constrained to play out the will of pure, infinite, energy amidst an absolute absence?

[@bethandin7744]

I'm currently doing a masters degree in philosophy and I'm writing my dissertation on why the rejection of nihilism is unjustified (because it is all based on a bunch of misconceptions about what nihilism actually is). I noted that in your video you talk about fallibilism, I think this is a really good point to illustrate that there are other motivations (or restrictions) for people's moral behaviour other than believing in some objective, universal moral facts. I'm having a hard time finding any literature that relates nihilism and fallibilism formally... I obviously can't just write "most nihilists are also fallibilists", I need some evidence or research that would suggest that a nihilist would also uphold fallibilism, but I'm struggling to find this. I was wondering if you'd know any papers that make the link or even just have a line of thought that you wouldn't mind me exploring? Failing that, perhaps you could tell me, from your perspective, why you think fallibilism is compatible with your nihilism? Thanks in advance!

[@h.hholmes.492]

Wow... Casey Affleck got the role of a Nihilist person

[@TheC0mmentSection]

“Being the joker is a good way to end up dead or in jail” - so what? It doesn’t matter right?

[@nemohmmm6298]

Maybe but i dont realy wana die or end up in jail

[@gabrieldpaula1139]

It doesn't matter objectively, but still generally speaking nobody wants to die or go to jail so subjectivity it does matter, but IG if your cool with dying then it doesn't to you

[@TheC0mmentSection]

@@nemohmmm6298 but if nothing mattered then why would you not want to? Looks like something matters then?

[@TheC0mmentSection]

@@gabrieldpaula1139 looks like something matters and has some sort of value then?

[@gabrieldpaula1139]

@@TheC0mmentSection right but existential and moral nihilism isn't implying that nothing has subjective meaning just not objective meaning, you can believe that all the stars in the universe are made for you but that's only a personal belief, in reality they are not people are so used to believing everything revolves around them, an inflation of ego that they don't even realize and the obsession over meaning and the notion that a life without meaning means you can't live a meaningful life, What makes life valuable is death because it ends, in the same sense the realization that nothing has objective meaning just makes me appreciate all the small moments of my life even more

[@makaiaomcentee1639]

I like your fake cuts

[@naviremsapostle1298]

I wonder if I’m talented in philosophy since all these types of philosophy have been already in my knowledge at a very young age, from this video I just learned the names

[@1ksubswithoutavideochallen664]

same here, i first got to know about these names when someone asked me if im a nihilist

[@theespjames4114]

So smoking not bad?😂

[@mapoony]

Happy HAPPY JOY JOY FUN !!!

[@mendi881]

Such a great video!

[@BadPerson789]

thank you

[@ExLibris-Alys]

😳

[@sloid2965]

why do I have a feeling you don't smoke for real?

[@marko6168]

He doesn't. Awkward handling of cigarette

[@tobyiy]

Jordan Peterson would reply to this video by pointing out, that just because you say "I am a Nihilist" doesnt mean this is how you see the world and how you act in it. That's why it's possible to say "I'm a nihilist" and still be happy and positive.

[@tobyiy]

use the youtube search: "Jordan Peterson Nihilism" I'm sure you'll find good stuff

[@tjerox3533]

And to a nihilist, Jordan Peterson's opinion is meaningless. (Also his opinions on nihilism and hedonism are just wrong since he doesn't really understand either)

[@cristhiancamarena9534]

I generally love jordan peterson but his conflicts against atheistic beliefs crashes quite a lot with me, nihilism is about an objective affirmation and has nothing to do with subjective structures that you build on your own, such as morality or motivation for life.

[@zacharybennett3249]

Use your own words: It's your point you're making.

[@BetaBuxDelux]

Meh

[@bblueangel2]

Hahah watched the movie ...Guy with Ryan Reynolds. We create meaning. There is only you in the univers a collective you. And you can get stuck in the hamster wheel of matrix by not questioning. The best thing I found out about Nihilism if that it is not negative if it is for the sake of understanding in a epistemological sense.

[@LeandroVelez7]

Isn’t that cynical nature a product of Christianity and original sin? Man is conceived of as being evil without salvation therefore a nihilist must by definition reflect this fallen grace. One can be nihilist and have morality but that concept eludes them just like so much critical thinking often does.

[@SerifSundown]

Some people definitely take the mental shortcut of "Religion is false and does harm, therefore it should be opposed. Religions include moral systems, so moral systems must be opposed as well." Or more specifically, "If Christianity says x is a sin, x must actually be good, because Christianity is false." But I think the only proxy for typical nihilistic behaviors is surveys of atheists, which to my knowledge always show little difference between the moral opinions and behaviors of atheists and the religious. I tend to think that popular morality and moral behavior is mostly a result of human nature and instinct, not learned philosophy, and therefore changes to one's philosophy typically don't translate into changes in behavior that are morally relevant.

[@LeandroVelez7]

The phrase human nature often times is overly laden with our conceptual lenses and always, in my opinion, should be used extremely carefully. We only know human nature from our extremely distorted vision of it after all, far from the lives of our ancient ancestors who lived extremely different and arduous lives compared to ours. They relied on each other much more than we generally give them credit for and their lives were more intermingled. Morality probably has its basis there. I do think there is something to compassion, kindness and friendliness that is inherent to the human but so is cruelty, malice and aggression. Morality as a prescribed behavioral belief system, however, is more a product of power dynamics and less reflective of human nature per say. I may sound Nietzschean, though I disagree with a lot of his conclusions, I think he was right about this.

[@jcresmond1653]

yup