Moral Nihilism - Part 1

    Morality: principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.

    Morale: the confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline of a person or group at a particular time.

    Do you believe in moral nihilism? I will admit that I didn’t even know what nihilism was until my boyfriend started talking about it. I was looking on books about Shinto, Buddhist and Hindu religions and he mentioned something about it. It peaked my curiosity and it’s been lingering in the back of my mind ever since. Just festering with unanswered questions. There really isn’t much on the internet about nihilism, at least not intellectual discussions that I would be interested in. Not to be pretentious or anything like that because I am not egotistical although sometimes I wish I was. Perhaps if I had an over inflated ego I wouldn’t suffer so horribly from terribly low self-esteem. Perhaps I would have more confidence.

    “Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.” - Niccoló Machiavelli

    So, Nihilism is defined as:

    “Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.”1

    By the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Not only is nihilism a philosophy or way of life, but a religion as well. How can a religion that condemns existence and believes in nothing be classified as a religion. Well, we can look at what defines a religion. The sociological definition of religions is as follows:

    “...religion is an integrative force in society because it has the power to shape collective beliefs. It provides cohesion in the social order by promoting a sense of belonging and collective consciousness.”2

    But this is only one of the many sociological theories of religion. In this case, it is the functionalist perspective as written and observed by Emile Durkheim.

    “...views religion in terms of how it supports other social institutions… the religious belief systems provided a cultural framework that supported the development of other social institutions, such as the economy.”3

    This is a theory accredited to Max Weber who, like Durkheim, saw religions as a system and mindfulness that brought together a group of people by giving them something in common. They saw religion as a helpful thing think that brought together a group of people, gave humans a community in which to thrive in due to a common interest and ultimate something.

    There is more to this as well. In fact, let’s look at the Marxist perspective on religion:

    “...religion as a tool for class oppression in which it promotes stratification because it supports a hierarchy of people on Earth and the subordination of humankind to divine authority.”4

    However, there are so many different theories on religion and how religion is, or why it is as it is now. For now, we will focus on these three definitions. I think that the Marxist definition is the one that truly supports the nihilistic view, but Karl Marx is known for the Communist Manifesto. This is why his definition of religion informs us of classist system of hierarchy and the way religion is used as a herding tool in which to group those in the classist world and give them a divine authority created by those of the upper tier classes in order to control them. I don’t like this idea because this makes me feel like Marx thought all of us who aren’t in the top 1% of the world are far superior to us in intelligence, so much so that they devised a plan to control us through religion. This also assumes that we, as lower to middle class citizens, are stupid. So stupid that we would believe something without proof.

    While I don’t follow any coherent religion, I do believe that there is something out there greater than ourselves. Be it a God, Gods, aliens or a flying spaghetti monster with meatball eyes, there is something there. It’s hard for me to believe that out of all the universes out there, all the other solar systems and nebulae, everything out in space, that there is no other life. I doubt that the life would be monstrous like the xenomorph in the Aliens movies, but I doubt that they would be as technologically retarded as we are. (Note: when I say retarded, I mean slow, I am not using this word as a slang or insult to our advances or lack of). I’m also not saying that we lack technology, or smart people who can create new things. I just doubt that we are the smarter civilization in the vast varieties of our universe and the galaxies that surround us.

    This is not a piece on religion, so I will break off the rest of my words for it for the time being (don’t think I won’t revisit this however) and return to our conversation of nihilism.

    So, nihilism -- nothing exists. Nothing is real, there is no real communication, there is nothing that is worth anything besides destruction. Nihilism, I feel, or more so I feel that moral nihilism, has ties to hedonism. Why do I say this? “You mean like Dorian Gray? Oscar Wilde and his filthy, hedonistic sins?” NO! I do not mean any of that, and I highly disagree that Oscar Wilde sinned, or was truly a hedonist. He was just an interesting and witty man with different ideas, ideas far too advanced for the time he was stuck in.

    Let’s take a look at hedonism.

    “Hedonism is the philosophy that pleasure is the most important pursuit of mankind, and the only thing that is good for an individual. Hedonists, therefore, strive to maximise their total pleasure (the net of any pleasure less any pain or suffering). They believe that pleasure is the only good in life, and pain is the only evil, and our life's goal should be to maximize pleasure and minimize pain,”5

Is the definition of hedonism according to Luke Mastin of “The Basics of Philosophy” website. I can believe this, because I have been very interested in hedonism since I read The Picture of Dorian Gray when I was in the seventh grade and continue to read it at least once every few years. Just to give a little more proof, and to help cement the idea and knowledge into your mind, we will look at a few more perspectives of what defines hedonism.

    “...hedonism states that all and only pleasure is intrinsically valuable and all and only pain is intrinsically not valuable. Hedonists usually define pleasure and pain broadly, such that both physical and mental phenomena are included.”6

    We will be talking of specifically hedonistic egoism because this is the types of hedonism that is usually referred to as ‘hedonism’ when we speak of it. Hedonistic egoism is literally the theory that we should do whatever we want just because it feels good, or it brings us pleasure, despite morals and morality. It’s not as much a form of hedonism as it is egoism. Egoism is defined as: “the ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest.”7

    So, how does this all tie together? Well, let’s recap for a moment.

• Moral Nihilism is the belief that condemns existence; essentially, nothing is real. Pessimistic approach to life (Very pessimistic).
• Nihilism as a religion. Religion can be defined as a group of people that come together over common interest and form communitarian bonds, or it can be a hierarchical play to divide and torment the ‘weaker’ and ‘lower’ classes. So does nihilism count as a religion? I’m truly not sure. We will continue this discussion at a later date!
• Nihilism, hedonism, and egoism. How are they connected? They are connected by the belief that destruction, whether it be to the self, or whatnot is right. Not in an ‘evil’ sense (we will also be discussing what true evil is later) but in sense that lacks morals, ergo moral nihilism; the belief/theory that morals are nothing, they do not exist and are only perceived and forced upon us by society. They are not true nor real to our individual existence, it is all a notion forced upon us by our surroundings and without external influences, we likely would not have morals at all.

    So, where are we now? “I haven’t learned anything about moral nihilism. In fact, I’m thoroughly confused,” just hold your horses. There’s lots to come yet.

    “Is hedonism the same as nihilism. They both believe in not having morals, right?” No. I don’t think so at all. In fact, nihilism and hedonism both have many different subbranches. We all know (now) of moral nihilism and we know of nihilism in religious terms, hedonism in a basic form, and hedonistic egoism.

    “Jeez, you’ve been writing forever, and you have yet to make your point. Just wrap it up already? Sheesh!”

    I know it’s taking quite a while to truly give a point, but these topics are very complex. Even with all that I have written, I will likely not even scratch the surface of the depth behind these philosophical and sociological definitions. However, to wrap this up, I am going to bring in the psychological standpoints to these things. So, psychological hedonism? What is it and how does it relate to moral nihilism?

    In modern society, pleasure usually means something superficial which brings one happiness. For example, buying that new Nintendo Switch would be very good, it would bring me pleasure. If I lost a fifty pounds, that would bring me pleasure. However, pleasure hasn’t always been focused around superficial and material things. We could go into the differences between wants and needs and how hedonism makes it’s place there, but we won’t. Not today at least.

    Psychological hedonism is hedonism when our desires and pleasure is so broad and undefinable that it becomes meaningless. This also brings up the Hedonism Paradox, but once again we will have to save that for a later date (I’m sure I’ve already bored you enough as it is). Now, morality is defined as the distinction between right and wrong (for the full definition, you can go to the top of the post). So, to lack morality, is to lack the ability to differentiate right from wrong. This isn’t humanly possible because we all (even psychopaths) know the difference from right and wrong. However, a desire, the pleasure we could have from ridding the societal standards of right and wrong is what I think moral nihilism is about. I’m not entirely sure, because I haven’t spent my life searching for these answers, but I think that moral nihilism is honestly something that is bringing our country, our planet, everyone, down. We are destroying ourselves. Destruction! I have mentioned that word, have I not?

    Although I will continue on with this topic for a while, I will indeed post things that aren’t so heavy and hard-to-digest. Thank you for reading. Peace and love.

    -Hannibal Jacobs

1 Pratt, Alan. “Nihilism.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/nihilism/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.

2; 3; 4 Crossman, Ashley. “How Do You Study the Sociology of Religion?” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 13 May 2017, www.thoughtco.com/sociology-of-religion-3026286. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.

5 Maston, Luke. Hedonism - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy, 2008, www.philosophybasics.com/branch_hedonism.html. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.

6 Weijers, Dan. “Hedonism.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/hedonism/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.

7 Mastin, Luke. Egoism - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy, 2008, www.philosophybasics.com/branch_egoism.html. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.