Moral nihilism

Throughout this course I have studied a numerous amount of theories. In this paper I will be sharing a handful of theories that I have studied. I will also compare and contrast some of the theories. The first theory that I came across was the theory of Moral Nihilism, also called ethical nihilism. Moral Nihilism is the belief that there are no moral truths. Moral nihilism would be consistent with an atheistic, materialistic worldview with no transcendent being who informs us about what is right and wrong as a revelation of his character. People who hold to this belief see values of good or bad as having no meaning. This does not mean they do not preferences as to certain behaviors, but the foundations of such preferences would be based solely…

Machiavelli’s moral framework that strives to ensure stable and effective rule to benefit all, this advocacy of violence to this end may be seen as its own kind of moral. Morality is subjective; Machiavelli may deviate from traditional morality, but he deviates to the effect of stability that benefits all – can’t this be considered moral? Alongside his views and advocacy of violence, Machiavelli sets no store by moral virtue. In chapter 15, he argues that a prince “must be prepared not to be…

West argues that one cannot cure Nihilism but rather tame it through love and care. However, equally important to the taming of nihilism is literature. Nihilism is a product of the desensitization of oppression that one faces every day. One starts to believe the negative images and words of their oppressors. Nihilism is an autonomous cycle that continues from negative ideas and form more negative ideas. According to West, “A major contemporary strategy for holding the nihilistic threat at bay…

The Nihilistic theory is one that disregards aspects of one's life that provide comfort and faith. Beginning with de Beauvoir's outlook and nihilism, she sees the nihilist view as some cowardly way to avoid the unknown of life. No one knows what happens when they pass, this aspect frightens many and over the many millennia humans have come up with a plethora of ideas and theories as to what happens beyond this visual plane. These hypotheses gave and still to this day give people hope and…

Monika Pareek Professor Chandra British Literature (Early 20th Century) 6th October 2015 Nihilism and the Idea of Darkness in Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness was written more than a century ago and was first published in 1899. In much the same way as in the novel, where Marlow could observe that almost all the blank spots on the map had been filled, the world at the end of the 20th century had all but been explored. The 19th century was coming to an end and the French…

They hold to an extremely skeptical view that nothing in this world has a real existence. I true Nihilist would have believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than to destroy. Both Absurdism and Nihilism are closely related to Existentialism. All three hold to the views that this world is meaningless, unless you do what you want, believe on nothing, and reject any religious groups. Also the worldviews agree that nothing can explain the existence of humanity or for what…

Nihilism: Don’t Embrace Nietzsche’s Nothingness “Life itself is essential assimilation, injury, violation of the foreign and the weaker, suppression, hardness, the forcing of One’s own forms upon something else, ingestion and—at least in its mildest form—exploitation.” -Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil The nihilism analysis has been prevalent position over the past few years. Its anticipated purpose is to demand questions about the norms made in a philosophical debate. These contain the…

Russian intelligentsia (Freeborn 1994, 39), which would have in turn born some influence on him. Since the 1860s, however, Turgenev’s work has met with criticism revolving around ideology versus poeticism, and at the center of this argument is Bazarov. In regard to this controversial character, Turgenev said, ‘in the main character, Bazarov, there lay the figure of a young provincial doctor that struck me’ (Turgenev 1869 cited in Katz 2008, p 133). We cannot know to what degree Turgenev used…

protesting, it was his own selfish inhibitions. He did not believe in any of the words he said, he was merely just trying to create a chance with one of the female he saw in the store. This to me is beyond weak, it is somewhat despicable. Like the character in Araby he treats these women as some type of Goddess, one deserving more than he will ever get. Like the boy in Araby he is also a boy “derided by vanity, vanity that he seeks euphoria in his desires.” (Joyce, James) At the same time,…

Throughout the novel, McCarthy presents the internal struggle of central characters of finding meaning in this desolate and meaningless world. The primary mode of doing do for the characters, is reaffirming the belief that they are on a moral mission to uphold what little of humanity is left. McCarthy represents this idea through two symbols that are repeated throughout the novel: the idea of carrying the fire and believing themselves to be the good guys. These are representative of “identity…