Timeline for What factors led to the widespread popularity of nihilism in the 21st century?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
53 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 6 at 11:39 | comment | added | Scott Rowe | We should have just stuck with Modernism, Post-modernism was a disaster. Didn't someone test the upgrade before deploying it? | |
| Sep 4 at 6:29 | answer | added | Edward Freeman | timeline score: 0 | |
| Sep 4 at 3:35 | history | edited | Julius Hamilton | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Nov 15, 2023 at 21:57 | answer | added | Meanach | timeline score: 0 | |
| Dec 4, 2018 at 13:05 | comment | added | rus9384 | I'd say that unfortunately nihilism is not really popular. If it was, the world would be a better place. | |
| Feb 18, 2018 at 9:40 | answer | added | oliver | timeline score: 3 | |
| Feb 16, 2018 at 16:56 | comment | added | Brian Carroll | pt 2: Sorry if Absurdism is more of a Kierkegaard notion, however more recent and more "meaningful" to me was Camus and his Myth of Sisyphus. | |
| Feb 16, 2018 at 16:51 | comment | added | Brian Carroll | There are some good answers here so I won't rehash what a few people said in my own answer and provide a slightly different insight. But I do have some input... Your definition of nihilism highlights a lighter understanding of the concept, or at least an old-school one. This is no fault to you at all, as I believe quite a bit of people stop at the "no meaning, no point" aspect. However, I believe that it is simply an axiom for understanding meaning in the Nietzsche post-religious world. Check out Camus' idea of Absurdism. | |
| Feb 16, 2018 at 8:01 | comment | added | Pikamander2 | The lack of evidence to the contrary, mostly. | |
| Feb 16, 2018 at 1:39 | comment | added | Chloe | Because Rick & Morty. | |
| Feb 15, 2018 at 21:14 | answer | added | borjab | timeline score: 3 | |
| Feb 15, 2018 at 19:54 | comment | added | mathreadler | @ToddWilcox hah, spot on. The ones who would appreciate it could probably come up with it themselves and the rest would just be annoyed by the one saying anything about it. Better to just shut up, watch some olympic games and drink some beer. | |
| Feb 14, 2018 at 17:25 | comment | added | Lumberjack | @YechiamWeiss Todd's comment was a joke. He comically espoused the Nihilist view in relation to this thread. | |
| Feb 14, 2018 at 15:13 | answer | added | user27745 | timeline score: 9 | |
| Feb 14, 2018 at 15:01 | comment | added | Yechiam Weiss | @everestial007 by themselves, those statements are definitely not nihilistics. Please look at the definitions I've written. | |
| Feb 14, 2018 at 14:08 | comment | added | everestial | If being an atheist (not believing in god) is nihilism, if believing that there might be life somewhere else in the universe - which undermines statements from several religions that the earth was the center of everything and human are the god’s most beloved creature; then that is better than nihilism. If we know more from modern science and think that race don’t matter - than that’s better than nihilism. If we think that we are not the best thing evolution might have created - than that is better than nihilism. | |
| Feb 14, 2018 at 12:22 | comment | added | user20253 | @JonathanReez - A fully rational person would notice that the nihilistic view you endorse is based on a doubtful assumption.and is a speculation. It is not as easy as you think to prove that we must be so gloomy. | |
| Feb 14, 2018 at 3:52 | comment | added | Conifold | A (too) straightforward historical answer is in IEP:"In the twentieth century, it's the atheistic existentialist movement, popularized in France in the 1940s and 50s, that is responsible for the currency of existential nihilism in the popular consciousness." While Sartre may have been responsible for giving the idea wide circulation he was not responsible for so many finding it appealing. But I doubt that this is the nihilism OP has in mind since existentialism calls for generating one's own meaning instead of searching for made ones, not giving up. | |
| Feb 13, 2018 at 23:59 | comment | added | Eric Towers | @ChrisSunami : I can count on both hands and a foot the number of people I have met who describe themselves accurately regarding their implemented (versus aspirational) philosophy. Just because someone does or does not describe themselves as a nihilist does not make it so. | |
| Feb 13, 2018 at 22:19 | comment | added | Yechiam Weiss | @ToddWilcox is this sarcastic comment? Because if it isn't I'd love to hear your answer (and have a good answer to your statement), and if it is then it's a nice pun that I completely ruined :) | |
| Feb 13, 2018 at 21:41 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | I have an excellent answer to this question, but I just don't see the point in posting it. It's never really going to help anyone anyway. | |
| Feb 13, 2018 at 21:33 | comment | added | Yechiam Weiss | @NikitaSokolsky why do you come to that conclusion? Not that I'm saying it's not what people think, but I mean philosophically speaking, why do you consider existential nihilism to be the default scientific position? Or should I ask otherwise - why do you think there's even a default position? | |
| Feb 13, 2018 at 21:14 | answer | added | Mr. Meeseeks | timeline score: 2 | |
| Feb 13, 2018 at 20:06 | comment | added | JonathanReez | Existential nihilism is the default scientific position. Positing there's a meaning to life requires proof and it's obviously impossible to acquire one. Therefore a fully rational person would assume that position. | |
| Feb 13, 2018 at 16:49 | review | Close votes | |||
| Feb 18, 2018 at 3:04 | |||||
| Feb 13, 2018 at 13:16 | comment | added | Yechiam Weiss | @PeterJ I too think the "stagnation of the university philosophy department" has a big influence here. Although I'm in no position to say anything critical (if at all) about the state of philosophy in universities as I have no relation to it, I can say that in a more publical view I see lack of philosophy books (well, not in the nowadays regular sense of philosophy, those "have better life" kind of guidebooks, as I simply don't consider them much of philosophy), and the dominance of mechanistic Dawkins style pop science books. | |
| Feb 13, 2018 at 13:06 | comment | added | user20253 | The nihilism you define looks like simple pessimism. There is a more philosophical definition by which it states that nothing exists. I would say the principle cause of the nihilism you describe is the stagnation of the university philosophy department, but this would be a different topic.and is perhaps a tad contentious. | |
| Feb 13, 2018 at 12:59 | answer | added | Callum Bradbury | timeline score: 3 | |
| Feb 13, 2018 at 12:57 | comment | added | dessert | I refuse to believe nihilism is popular. | |
| Feb 13, 2018 at 11:42 | answer | added | rackandboneman | timeline score: 4 | |
| Feb 13, 2018 at 11:21 | answer | added | PStag | timeline score: 5 | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 22:44 | answer | added | user30898 | timeline score: 2 | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 22:19 | answer | added | vsz | timeline score: 3 | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 22:07 | comment | added | Dennis | Edited the tags to remove Philosophy of Science and History of Philosophy since neither seemed apt. Added existentialism and postmodernism given the edit. Philosophy of History and Philosophy of Culture seem questionable, but I’ll leave that to the judgment of others. | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 22:04 | answer | added | CriglCragl | timeline score: 2 | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 22:03 | history | edited | Dennis |
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| Feb 12, 2018 at 21:19 | answer | added | LCIII | timeline score: 41 | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 21:12 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackPhilosophy/status/963158996818505728 | ||
| Feb 12, 2018 at 20:04 | comment | added | Yechiam Weiss | @EricLippert "the population that is exhibiting the alleged popularity of nihilism" is the middle class citizens, the people who consume knowledge but are often not knowledgeable enough to be considered to have "academic" knowledge. | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 19:40 | comment | added | Eric Lippert | I still don't really understand what the question is asking. Are you asking why nihilism is popular amongst academics who have studied the history of philosophy and chosen nihilism? Are you asking why so many impoverished out-of-work American rust-belt factory workers addicted to opioids are committing suicide? Who exactly is the population that is exhibiting the alleged popularity of nihilism? | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 19:29 | comment | added | Gordon | @YechiamWeiss Oh, now I understand your comment below. You made changes to your question. It's all good. I have very much enjoyed this topic, and the contributions from all parties. | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 18:54 | history | edited | Yechiam Weiss | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Feb 12, 2018 at 18:42 | comment | added | mathreadler | @ChrisSunami a phenomenon can be widespread and popular even if people involved don't want to associate themselves with it. For example if there is a stigma attached or maybe even illegal. | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 17:55 | answer | added | Ruski | timeline score: 3 | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 16:29 | answer | added | Geoffrey Thomas♦ | timeline score: 18 | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 16:06 | comment | added | Chris Sunami | @Gordon I'm not necessarily in disagreement, but in order for this to be a strong question, it should cite the evidence for its premise in the body of the question itself. | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 15:55 | comment | added | Yechiam Weiss | @ChrisSunami I hear and see that everyday. | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 15:41 | comment | added | Gordon | The violence, suicides. People can be nihilists but lack the word in their vocabulary. A lot of houses of worship are drawing poor attendance nowadays in the West. By 2050, they will be packed to the rafters. Panic. Philosophers may have to play a therapeutic role. Who knows? I have suggested such temporary philosophies as existentialism. Books by Mortimer Adler. Any port in a storm. BTW I am agnostic myself, but I go to services sometimes. There are many agnostics, atheists etc in attendance Why not? There is still more truth to be had in the future if we can get there. | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 15:23 | answer | added | Chris Sunami | timeline score: 52 | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 15:15 | comment | added | Chris Sunami | What convinces you that a particularly large group of people today consider there to be a lack of meaning for life? | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 15:14 | comment | added | Yechiam Weiss | @ChrisSunami yeah I thought about that, by I think the common definition fits - lack of meaning for life. | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 15:12 | comment | added | Chris Sunami | You might want to state what makes you think that nihilism is especially popular today. I can't ever recall meeting anyone who describes themselves as a nihilist. | |
| Feb 12, 2018 at 14:55 | history | asked | Yechiam Weiss | CC BY-SA 3.0 |