Existential Nihilism
One of the most detrimental elements of society goes largely unrecognized. Nihilism’s negative effects can be seen throughout our culture. Nihilism makes many appearances in pop culture, numbs society into a lull, and yet at the same time offers some hope. While traditional nihilism is often discussed in terms of extreme skepticism and relativism, for most of the 20th century it has been associated with the belief that life is meaningless. This new type of philosophy is called existential nihilism. Existential nihilism begins with the notion that the world is without meaning or purpose. Under this idea, existence itself, all action, suffering, and feeling is senseless and lacking a point.
Pop culture, movies and television especially, …show more content…
are become increasingly more nihilistic. The movie The Matrix has strong nihilistic undertones. The main character, Neo, keeps his computer programs in the chapter “On Nihilism” in the book Simulacra and Simulation by Baudrillard.
Baudrillard’s philosophy was that God’s presence is only perceived by religious icons. These icons become the source of God’s power. When God is only felt through these icons, it is very unlikely a god exists. Baudrillard believed that God does not exist if his presence is not felt. The idea of a god is a manmade concept intended to fill the emptiness mankind feels. One character in The Matrix said “I was looking for an answer,” as she was enlightened of the Matrix. Once nihilism is realized separated and from God and the rules associated with him, the self creates its own reality.
The cult classic Fight Club suggest both a traditional and existential nihilistic lifestyle. Fight Club rejects capitalism and consumerism, a lifestyle that nearly everyone holds dear in our consumerist culture. There is also a rejection that violence is negative. Pain and other sensory experiences becomes the means to awaken to a real life. Tyler, while burning the main character (who’s other personality is also Tyler Durton), says, “This is the most beautiful moment of your life, don’t deal with it the way those dead people do,” which is a judgment of the remedial tendencies of our culture.
Tyler Durton’s speech in the movie shows that the movie’s form of nihilism is not atheistic, but rather of maltheism and deism. "Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers bailed, what does that tell you about God? You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you, never wanted you, and in all probability he hates you. This is not the worst thing that can happen. We don’t need him. Fuck damnation, man. Fuck redemption. We are God’s unwanted children. So be it. It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we are free to do anything." Tyler believes that without god, anything goes. This belief is at the core of existential nihilism, whether it is atheistic or if you just ignore your god’s will.
The movie Pulp Fiction is solely about American Nihilism. It is about the loss of the meaning of our values. The movie constantly references pop culture. Though most perceive it as comic relief set against the violent mainframe, it is to demonstrate how the characters make sense of their lives. In another time, people relate with something bigger than themselves to give their lives meaning. This larger-than-life thing was almost always religion, which gave people a set of values. This lifestyle is missing from the main characters Jules’s and Vincent’s lives. This is because it is missing from the American lifestyle in today’s culture. Today people get by with pop icons; we related ourselves and each other through them.
Jules had a quote he got from the Ezekial 25:17 (actually, it is mostly written by Tarantino, the director) that he stated before he took a life:
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.
Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.
The point is that the passage refers to a system of values and meaning by which one could lead their life and make moral decisions. However, that system has no connection with Jules’s life and the passage is actually meaningless to him, as he realizes late in the movie.
The movie also comments on nihilism shining through in our language. Vincent comments on how odd the differences of what we call our Quarter Pounder and Britain’s Royal with cheese are. Yet when a Hispanic cab driver asks the character Bruce what his name means, he replies “This is America honey; our name don’t mean shit.” The message is that our words now do not mean anything beyond exactly what they mean; they have no connotation of anything …show more content…
poetic.
Pulp Fiction also goes over how we view and value power.
Due to the absence of the ability to make value judgments, and the lack of meaning in their lives, Jules and Vincent are in a hierarchy of power with their crime boss, Marsellus Wallace. Marsellus gives them a system of worth, with him at top and them below him. Anything has value to them if it Marsellus gives it value. The briefcase that Vincent and Jules are in charge of bringing back to Marsellus demonstrates this perfectly. We never learn what is inside this briefcase, but that is strategic. Characters reactions to what is inside show us that it is desirable, but that does not matter. That’s the point; the contents are completely irrelevant. All that matters is that Marsellus wants the briefcase back, and his wish is their command. With a proper value system, they would be able to judge what is justifiable in returning the briefcase. Without it, the briefcase is of ultimate value, and all means are justified, including
murder.
Professor Thomas Hibbs sees a clear relation with the rise of nihilism in pop culture and the rise of nihilism in people and society.
"If nothing positive comes out of rebellion, both rebellion and convention seem foolish, and you're left with snickering irony, a smirking detachment from everything a la Seinfeld that is the seedbed for cynicism. Evil ceases to be terrifying and becomes merely banal, resulting in a comic view of life as meaningless."
Nihilism has an impressive talent for numbing people into a hallow, apathetic rut. Evil was once portrayed as something to overcome. It is now common and tolerated. Horror movies used to thrill and terrify people. Hibbs states he attended the re-release of The Exorcist and was horrified as most of the theater audience laughed and giggled when Linda Blair's head rotated and she spewed green vomit.
Nihilism’s effects go beyond pop culture. Its detriment can be seen in society and people themselves. It can even be viewed as far back in history as Shakespeare. The passage in Macbeth epitomizes the existentialist nihilist view:
Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
More recently, an atheistic existential nihilist movement has taken over. France is where the concept was made more popular. “Paul Sartre’s (1905-1980) defining preposition for the movement, “existence precedes essence,” rules out any ground or foundation for establishing an essential self or a human nature.”
Nihilism is generally a negative philosophy, whether its facts are correct at the core or not. We, as a society, seem to need something larger than us to associate with if we want to function in a morally justified way. But in order to do that we will need a moral system, which nihilism has nearly done away with. Nihilistic philosopher Nietzche predicted a collapse of society in the 21st Century. (Source 4) Once it has collapsed, he believes we will find a way to work through nihilism. So, through all the harm nihilism has caused and will cause, there may still be hope for a nihilistic society.
Pop culture, movies and television especially, …show more content…
are become increasingly more nihilistic. The movie The Matrix has strong nihilistic undertones. The main character, Neo, keeps his computer programs in the chapter “On Nihilism” in the book Simulacra and Simulation by Baudrillard.
Baudrillard’s philosophy was that God’s presence is only perceived by religious icons. These icons become the source of God’s power. When God is only felt through these icons, it is very unlikely a god exists. Baudrillard believed that God does not exist if his presence is not felt. The idea of a god is a manmade concept intended to fill the emptiness mankind feels. One character in The Matrix said “I was looking for an answer,” as she was enlightened of the Matrix. Once nihilism is realized separated and from God and the rules associated with him, the self creates its own reality.
The cult classic Fight Club suggest both a traditional and existential nihilistic lifestyle. Fight Club rejects capitalism and consumerism, a lifestyle that nearly everyone holds dear in our consumerist culture. There is also a rejection that violence is negative. Pain and other sensory experiences becomes the means to awaken to a real life. Tyler, while burning the main character (who’s other personality is also Tyler Durton), says, “This is the most beautiful moment of your life, don’t deal with it the way those dead people do,” which is a judgment of the remedial tendencies of our culture.
Tyler Durton’s speech in the movie shows that the movie’s form of nihilism is not atheistic, but rather of maltheism and deism. "Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers bailed, what does that tell you about God? You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you, never wanted you, and in all probability he hates you. This is not the worst thing that can happen. We don’t need him. Fuck damnation, man. Fuck redemption. We are God’s unwanted children. So be it. It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we are free to do anything." Tyler believes that without god, anything goes. This belief is at the core of existential nihilism, whether it is atheistic or if you just ignore your god’s will.
The movie Pulp Fiction is solely about American Nihilism. It is about the loss of the meaning of our values. The movie constantly references pop culture. Though most perceive it as comic relief set against the violent mainframe, it is to demonstrate how the characters make sense of their lives. In another time, people relate with something bigger than themselves to give their lives meaning. This larger-than-life thing was almost always religion, which gave people a set of values. This lifestyle is missing from the main characters Jules’s and Vincent’s lives. This is because it is missing from the American lifestyle in today’s culture. Today people get by with pop icons; we related ourselves and each other through them.
Jules had a quote he got from the Ezekial 25:17 (actually, it is mostly written by Tarantino, the director) that he stated before he took a life:
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.
Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.
The point is that the passage refers to a system of values and meaning by which one could lead their life and make moral decisions. However, that system has no connection with Jules’s life and the passage is actually meaningless to him, as he realizes late in the movie.
The movie also comments on nihilism shining through in our language. Vincent comments on how odd the differences of what we call our Quarter Pounder and Britain’s Royal with cheese are. Yet when a Hispanic cab driver asks the character Bruce what his name means, he replies “This is America honey; our name don’t mean shit.” The message is that our words now do not mean anything beyond exactly what they mean; they have no connotation of anything …show more content…
poetic.
Pulp Fiction also goes over how we view and value power.
Due to the absence of the ability to make value judgments, and the lack of meaning in their lives, Jules and Vincent are in a hierarchy of power with their crime boss, Marsellus Wallace. Marsellus gives them a system of worth, with him at top and them below him. Anything has value to them if it Marsellus gives it value. The briefcase that Vincent and Jules are in charge of bringing back to Marsellus demonstrates this perfectly. We never learn what is inside this briefcase, but that is strategic. Characters reactions to what is inside show us that it is desirable, but that does not matter. That’s the point; the contents are completely irrelevant. All that matters is that Marsellus wants the briefcase back, and his wish is their command. With a proper value system, they would be able to judge what is justifiable in returning the briefcase. Without it, the briefcase is of ultimate value, and all means are justified, including
murder.
Professor Thomas Hibbs sees a clear relation with the rise of nihilism in pop culture and the rise of nihilism in people and society.
"If nothing positive comes out of rebellion, both rebellion and convention seem foolish, and you're left with snickering irony, a smirking detachment from everything a la Seinfeld that is the seedbed for cynicism. Evil ceases to be terrifying and becomes merely banal, resulting in a comic view of life as meaningless."
Nihilism has an impressive talent for numbing people into a hallow, apathetic rut. Evil was once portrayed as something to overcome. It is now common and tolerated. Horror movies used to thrill and terrify people. Hibbs states he attended the re-release of The Exorcist and was horrified as most of the theater audience laughed and giggled when Linda Blair's head rotated and she spewed green vomit.
Nihilism’s effects go beyond pop culture. Its detriment can be seen in society and people themselves. It can even be viewed as far back in history as Shakespeare. The passage in Macbeth epitomizes the existentialist nihilist view:
Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
More recently, an atheistic existential nihilist movement has taken over. France is where the concept was made more popular. “Paul Sartre’s (1905-1980) defining preposition for the movement, “existence precedes essence,” rules out any ground or foundation for establishing an essential self or a human nature.”
Nihilism is generally a negative philosophy, whether its facts are correct at the core or not. We, as a society, seem to need something larger than us to associate with if we want to function in a morally justified way. But in order to do that we will need a moral system, which nihilism has nearly done away with. Nihilistic philosopher Nietzche predicted a collapse of society in the 21st Century. (Source 4) Once it has collapsed, he believes we will find a way to work through nihilism. So, through all the harm nihilism has caused and will cause, there may still be hope for a nihilistic society.