Nihilism &

Existentialism

“What is living a life exactly?”-anonymous

What is Nihilism?• Nihilism– Values do not naturally exist.– Associated with Friedrich

Nietzsche and Soren Kierkegaard.

– Existential Nihilism & Mereological Nihilism.

What is Existentialism?• Existentialism– Opposite meaning of

Nihilism: To believe what you should believe.

– Also associated with Friedrich Nietzsche and Soren Kierkegaard.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Some principal ideas of these philosophies

• Among philosophers, Friedrich Nietzsche is most often associated with nihilism. For Nietzsche, there is no objective order or structure in the world except what we give it.

• Friedrich Nietzsche also argued that the corrosive effects would eventually destroy all moral, religious, and metaphysical convictions and precipitate the greatest crisis in human history.

Some principal ideas of these philosophies

• In Will to Power [notes 1883-1888], he writes, “Every belief, every considering something true, is necessarily false because there is simply no true world.”

• Nietzsche characterized nihilism as emptying the world and especially human existence of meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value. This observation stems in part from Nietzsche's perspectivism, or his notion that "knowledge" is always by someone of some thing: it is always bound by perspective, and it is never mere fact.

Some principal ideas of these philosophies

Soren Kierkegaard

(1813 –1855)

Some principal ideas of these philosophies

• Soren Kierkegaard who is regarded as the father of existentialism, maintained that the individual is responsible for giving her or his own life meaning and for living that life passionately and sincerely, in spite of many existential obstacles and distractions such as boredom.

Some principal ideas of these philosophies

Some principal ideas of these philosophies• Jean-Paul Sarte’s idea

“La Nausée,” the idea of the autonomy which is a morality that is derived from our ability to choose in reality; the ability to choose being derived from human freedom

Some principal ideas of these philosophies• Nihilism and Existentialism is

basically an extreme form of atheism.

• Kierkegaard and Nietzsche also considered the role of making free choices, particularly regarding fundamental values and beliefs, and how such choices change the nature and identity of the chooser.

Some principal ideas of these philosophies• Kierkegaard and Nietzsche’s belief

are representative of people who exhibit freedom, in that they define the nature of their own existence.

• Kierkegaard and Nietzsche were interested in people's quiet struggle with the apparent meaninglessness of life and the use of diversion to escape from boredom

Nihilism/Existentialism in Waiting For Godot.• Vladimir and Estragon do not

show any sense of conformity to the rules of conduct of a society.

• Vladimir and Estragon throughout the entire play discuss matters of no significant meaning.

• Vladimir and Estragon keeps on waiting for someone that has no proof of existence. They lack sense of purpose