I was reading some philosophical posts over at IIDB, I started thinking about the belief that I had always referred to as “nihilism.” I started thinking about what I really meant. I found a link to a page that seems to be all about nihilism, called the Nihilism Home Page. The NHP is quite dense, particularly for a web page. I have only read a bit there, but it’s enough to make me think that my ideas are different, although I can’t quite yet explain them. Thus, this post.

I hope in this post to at least begin to solidify what I mean when I talk about Nihilism.

First, the definition cliche’, from the Great Wiki:

Nihilism (from the Latin nihil, nothing) is a philosophical position that argues that existence is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. Nihilists generally assert that objective morality does not exist, and that no action is logically preferable to any other in regard to the moral value of one action over another. Nihilists that argue that there is no objective morality may claim that existence has no intrinsic higher meaning or goal. They may also claim that there is no reasonable proof or argument for the existence of a higher ruler or creator, or posit that even if a higher ruler or creator exists, humanity has no moral obligation to worship them.

Let’s take these one at a time:

1. Nihilism…is a philosophical position that argues that existence is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.

Agree 100%. You might find the tiniest hair of disagreement if you try to argue that this says that existence is no better or preferable than non-existence, but I would then call you a twit.

2. Nihilists generally assert that objective morality does not exist, and that no action is logically preferable to any other in regard to the moral value of one action over another.

This I disagree with almost completely. It seems that I fall under the category of moral universalist. Not only do I believe that an objective morality exists, I believe that other moral systems are perverted (sometimes intentionally) versions of this universal morality. This morality relates to what is Right and Wrong. Note that this does not mean that I am an absolutist. What is wrong in a given situation is wrong for everyone in that position, but that same action, in a different situation might be Right. Note that this also does not impose a punishment for doing the “Wrong” thing, other than one’s own shame or feelings. So, if you’re wondering, if you don’t think something is Wrong, that doesn’t mean it isn’t Wrong, but it does mean that you can do it with impunity. So, if you were waiting for some excuse to do horrible things, perhaps that will be what you needed. I would argue, however, that you were already Wrong and a bad person to begin with, you had only not manifested it yet. A brown horse in the dark is still brown, even if you can’t see it.

3. Nihilists that argue that there is no objective morality may claim that existence has no intrinsic higher meaning or goal. They may also claim that there is no reasonable proof or argument for the existence of a higher ruler or creator, or posit that even if a higher ruler or creator exists, humanity has no moral obligation to worship them.

Note the beginning of this sentence: “Nihilists [who] argue that there is no objective morality…” This sentence presupposes that there are at least two kinds of Nihilists: those who believe in objective morality and those who do not. Which then de-couples the idea of morality from nihilism–which leaves us with the first sentence as a definition.

As far as the second half: since there is no higher ruler or creator, the rest is moot. It may have value as a philosophical question, but not as a practical one, and I’m not much interested in mostly philosophical aguments (such as angels on pinheads)

So, our definition of nihilism is the first sentence: existence is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. RAmen, friend.

This is where people get carried away into crying about how nihlism means that nothing matters, so they should just kill themselves, blah blah blah. This is absurd on its face. It doesn’t at all mean that nothing matters–it means that nothing has meaning. Make sense? Let me ’splain…

A man walks up to someone he has never seen before and punches him in the nose. Does this matter? Of course it does! It matters a great deal to the guy with the fat lip. But does it hold any intrinsic value or meaning? Obviously not. There is no cosmic scale, no great ledger in the sky, no sky-fairy to wag his finger at the puncher and say that this means he is evil. It’s not, in itself, an evil act. It was a senseless act, and a Wrong one, but it certainly mattered.

Another example: A man walks up to a another man whom he has never seen and gives him $1,000. Does it matter? Oh yeah, it matters. Does it mean anything? No.

Another way to see it is a story I call “The Parable of the Lobsters” which is basically an adaptation of “The Star Thrower” by L. Eiseley:

A man is walking along the shore when he sees a boy up ahead on the beach. As the man got closer, he saw that the boy was picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

The man called out, “Good morning! What are you doing?”

The young man shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand and replied “Throwing lobsters into the ocean.”

“Why are you throwing lobsters into the ocean?”

“The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in they’ll die.”

“But there are miles and miles of beach and lobsters all along it. You can’t possibly make a difference!”

The boy squinted at the man, then picked up another lobster and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves. “It made a difference for that one,” he said

Does throwing these lobsters back in matter? Certainly. Does it mean anything? No. Lobsters will still get washed out of the water. Some will be tossed back in and eaten. But if there is something you can do to help someone, how can you not do it?

It is true that there is no meaning to what we do–but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. Because our lives matter to those around us, and we have a moral obligation to do what we can to make the world a better place for our having been in it even if, ultimately, that means nothing. Because it means something now.

UPDATE: Corrected HTML barf.