Nihilism: what is it? Types and essence of nihilism

September 14, 2020

Hello, dear readers of the KtoNaNovenkogo.ru blog. People, trying to understand the meaning of life and their place in it, constantly create new theories (approaches), some of which are becoming widespread.

One of the odious approaches is nihilism, which gained particular popularity in the second half of the 19th century (remember Bazarov from Fathers and Sons).

But who are nihilists, why is their approach not productive, how did this movement appear in philosophical thought, and what types of nihilism (legal, social) are popular now.

History of the term

In the Middle Ages there was a doctrine of nihilism

anathematized by Pope Alexander III in 1179. The doctrine of nihilism, falsely attributed to the scholastic Peter of Lombardy, rejected the human nature of Christ.

In Western philosophical thought, the term “nihilism” (German Nihilismus) was introduced by the German writer and philosopher F. G. Jacobi. This concept has been used by many philosophers. S. Kierkegaard considered the crisis of Christianity and the spread of an “aesthetic” worldview to be the source of nihilism. F. Nietzsche understood nihilism as an awareness of the illusory nature and inconsistency of both the Christian idea of ​​a supra-mundane God (“God is dead”) and the idea of ​​progress, which he considered a version of religious faith. O. Spengler called nihilism a feature of modern European culture, which is experiencing a period of “decline” and “senile forms of consciousness,” which in the cultures of other peoples supposedly inevitably followed a state of highest prosperity. M. Heidegger considered nihilism as a main movement in the history of the West, which could lead to a global catastrophe.

Nihilists hold some or all of the following statements:

• There is no (indisputable) reasonable proof of a supreme ruler or creator;
• There is no objective morality;
• Life, in a certain sense, has no truth, and no action is objectively preferable to any other.

What is nihilism and the history of its origins

Nihilism in simple words is nothingness, emptiness, the destruction of the ideals of previous generations, the denial of moral and moral principles.

Filling the void is not among the interests of nihilists, therefore their philosophical ideas are negative in nature, since they do not offer anything in return . Nihilism flourishes on the basis of the devaluation of life, the loss of its meaning and purpose.

“Nihilism is a pose, not a doctrine.” Carlos Ruiz Zafon. "Angel's Game"

V. Dahl in his dictionary gave a succinct and witty definition of nihilism:

“...an ugly and immoral teaching that rejects everything that cannot be touched.”

The term “nihilism” (from the Latin nihil - nothing) came from the Middle Ages, as in the 12th century they called one of the heresies that denied the divine-human nature of Christ.

The word itself has been used in European languages ​​since the 18th century to mean the denial of norms accepted in society. Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi introduced this term into philosophy in 1799 in his work “Sendschreiben an Fichte”.

Varieties of Nihilism

• A philosophical worldview position that questions (in its extreme form absolutely denies) generally accepted values, ideals, moral standards, and culture;
• Mereological nihilism is the philosophical position that objects made up of parts do not exist;
• Metaphysical nihilism is a philosophical theory according to which the existence of objects in reality is not necessary;
• Epistemological nihilism is the denial of knowledge;
• Moral nihilism is the metaethical view that nothing is moral or immoral;
• Legal nihilism is an active or passive denial of the responsibilities of the individual, as well as the norms and rules established by the state.

Good climate and lag

Just as a bad climate is not a good reason for a country to lag behind, an excellent climate is not a guarantee of its prosperity. According to the Travelask portal, Ecuador26 has the best climate among all countries - the air temperature here is always stable, there are no sudden changes. Summer here lasts all year round, the temperature is usually 24-25 degrees Celsius. In the International Living ranking, Ecuador ranks second27.

Hikersbay.com data

Did Ecuador's near-ideal climate conditions help it develop economically? In the HDI ranking, it ranks 85th in the world - lower than Armenia, Algeria, Belarus or cold Canada, Finland and Russia. Over 178 years, Ecuador has defaulted 7 times28, the last times in 1999 and 2008.

Third place in the same ranking of countries with the best climatic conditions from International Living is taken by Mexico. According to HuffPost, Costa Rica has the best climate in the world29. These countries rank 76 and 68 in the HDI rankings, respectively. Perhaps they are being robbed by the United States (we discussed the myth of poor countries being robbed by developed countries here)? Then let’s take fighters against the USA from Cuba, which also has excellent climatic conditions. Cuba ranks 72nd in the ranking. Portugal, which ranks first in the International Living ranking, lags significantly behind other Western European countries in development, occupying only 40th place in the ranking.

Nihilists in Russia

Main article: Russian nihilism

In Russian literature, the word “nihilism” was first used by N. I. Nadezhdin in the article “Host of Nihilists” (magazine “Bulletin of Europe”, 1829)[2]. In 1858, the book of Kazan professor V.V. Bervi “Psychological comparative view of the beginning and end of life” was published. It also uses the word “nihilism” as a synonym for skepticism.

The critic and publicist N. A. Dobrolyubov, ridiculing Bervy’s book, picked up this word, but it did not become popular until I. S. Turgenev, in the novel “Fathers and Sons” (1862), called Bazarov a “nihilist,” who denied the views of the "fathers". The enormous impression made by the novel “Fathers and Sons” also made the term “nihilist” popular. In his memoirs, Turgenev said that when he returned to St. Petersburg after the publication of his novel - and this happened during the famous St. Petersburg fires of 1862 - the word “nihilist” was already picked up by many, and the first exclamation that escaped from the lips of his first acquaintance , met by Turgenev, was: “Look what your nihilists are doing: they are burning St. Petersburg!”

Thus, in the second half of the 19th century, nihilists in the Russian Empire began to be called young people who wanted to change the existing state and social system in the country, denied religion, were materialists and atheists, and also did not recognize the prevailing moral norms (advocated free love, etc.) . P.). In particular, this was the name given to the populist revolutionaries. The word had a clear negative connotation. Nihilists were portrayed as shaggy, unkempt, dirty men and women who had lost all femininity.

By the late 1860s and early 1870s, the word “nihilist” almost disappeared from Russian polemical literature, but began to be used in Western European literature as a designation for the Russian revolutionary movement; it was also accepted by some Russian emigrants who wrote in foreign languages ​​about the Russian revolutionary movement. In 1884, Sofia Kovalevskaya’s story “The Nihilist” was published.

Currently, the term “legal nihilism”—disrespect for the law—is widely used. It reflects a widespread phenomenon in the legal life of Russian society. Its structure-forming component is an idea that denies legitimate social attitudes and carries a significant ideological load, determined not only by trends in social development and corresponding values, but also by a number of psychogenic factors.

Demonstrative nihilism (youthful, teenage)

The psychological syndrome of demonstrative nihilism occurs in adolescence, but due to the characteristics of personality development, its signs can manifest themselves in more mature years.

Demonstrative nihilism involves the cultivation of originality and uniqueness, the purposeful creation of an image of “not like everyone else,” the blind denial of all norms and standards of behavior and thinking. A demonstrative nihilist is poorly oriented in his inner world, he does not know his own characteristics at all, but he knows that he always needs to go against society. In this case, nihilism can hardly be called a worldview and personal philosophy. This is a deviation in behavior, a violation of socialization and self-identification.

A demonstrative nihilist openly and covertly enters into conflicts, disputes, and polemics. Most often, a nihilist presents himself in a negative image; disputes from the everyday level move to the level of ideas, culture, and values.

Every movement, deed, element of clothing, word of a nihilist is demonstratively opposed to those around him. The behavior is not only demonstrative, but also extravagant. Extravagance often borders on asociality. Those around them, in turn, fix attention only on these aspects of the personality, which further consolidates in the nihilist’s self-awareness the image he demonstrates of “not like everyone else,” a provocative, shocking person.

Without correction and the help of a psychologist, such behavior turns into crimes, alcohol addiction, sexual promiscuity, etc. Each time it will be more and more difficult for a person to shock, the boundaries between social and antisocial behavior will become increasingly blurred.

Nihilism in psychologists' research

Erich Fromm proposed approaching nihilism as one of the psychological defense mechanisms. He believed that the central problem of man is the inherent contradiction in human existence between being “thrown into the world against one’s will” and being transcended by nature through the ability to be aware of oneself, others, the past and the future. Fromm argues that the development of man and his personality occurs within the framework of the formation of two main trends: the desire for freedom and the desire for alienation. Human development follows the path of increasing “freedom,” but not every person can adequately take advantage of this path, causing a number of negative mental experiences and states, and this leads him to alienation. As a result, a person loses his self (or “I”). A protective mechanism of “escape from freedom” arises, which is characterized by: masochistic and sadistic tendencies, destructivism, a person’s desire to destroy the world so that it does not destroy him, nihilism, automatic conformism.

The concept of nihilism is also analyzed by W. Reich. He wrote that bodily characteristics (restraint and tension) and characteristics such as constant smiling, dismissive, ironic and defiant behavior are remnants of very strong defense mechanisms in the past that have separated from their original situations and turned into permanent character traits . They manifest themselves as “character neurosis”, one of the reasons for which is the action of the defense mechanism - nihilism. “Character neurosis” is a type of neurosis in which a defensive conflict is expressed in individual character traits, modes of behavior, that is, in the pathological organization of the personality as a whole.

Bad climate and prosperity

To begin with, we will give examples of countries with a poor climate for human habitation and economic activity. First of all, the example of Japan comes to mind. According to Nippon.com, the Japanese summer is characterized by heavy rainfall and the rainy season lasts for a whole month; so-called “guerrilla storms”6 and typhoons are often observed. As a guide to Japan reports, in winter “it’s really bone-chilling cold outside, although the temperature rarely drops below zero.”7 There is also very unhealthy geological activity here. Earthquakes and tsunamis occur frequently - as Express reports, about 1,500 earthquakes of varying magnitude shake the state every year8. The climate is very dependent on seasonal winds. The soil is unsuitable for farming.

Today this country is one of the leaders in the world economy. According to the World Bank, Japan in 2020 ranked 3rd in the world in terms of GDP9. The Japanese corporation Toyota Motor became the largest car manufacturer in the world in 200710. In addition to the auto industry, the country is a leader in many high-tech industries. The Tokyo Stock Exchange ranks third in the world among the largest stock exchanges by capitalization11. Japan is among the top twenty world leaders in HDI12.

Finland is a country with far from the most favorable weather conditions. There are warm (but short) summers and harsh winters - long, frosty, with strong winds and plenty of snow13. Swamps occupy almost a third of the country’s land14, forests – over 75% of the territory15. This does not prevent the country from ranking 12th in the world in terms of HDI.

Average annual temperature by country

Great Britain - the climate in Foggy Albion is very rainy, there are wet winters and wet summers16, the country constantly experiences contrasting and changeable weather17. Some Americans complain to the British tabloid press about the constant rain and the fact that real summer may not come18. The country spends around £2.6 billion a year on flood protection19. Britain is also the world leader in the number of tornadoes relative to land area20. With all this, Great Britain has long been a world economic leader21, and even today it is among the 15 most developed countries in the world in terms of HDI.

Switzerland, which is landlocked and 70% of whose territory is occupied by the Jura Mountains and the Alps22 (the crossing of which by the armies of Hannibal and Alexander Suvorov is considered almost a feat of military art), also has its own reasons to come up with excuses for the incompetent management of the country. New Zealand also has it, significantly removed from many centers of civilization, living in conditions of increased volcanic and tectonic activity (more than 15,000 earthquakes annually23). However, all these countries were engaged in development, not in promoting justifications.

How do countries solve their problems? For example, if a bad climate leads to problems with disease and health, you can create tools that solve these problems:

19th-century England also had serious health problems, but the government gradually invested in water supply, sewerage and wastewater treatment systems, and ultimately in creating an effective health care system.

Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson

Renowned Norwegian economist Erik Reinert also notes how Europe rid itself of malaria through industrialization and development - more advanced and intensive agriculture led to the draining of swamps, while irrigation canals made the shallow bodies of stagnant water in which malaria thrives incompatible with economic development. In addition, active vaccination was carried out in Europe, and the healthcare system was operating at full capacity25. Where there was a competent government, problems were solved.

As we can see, neither a bad climate nor difficult geographical conditions are an obstacle to ensuring economic prosperity for the country.

Literature

• Nietzsche F.
  Human, too human.
• Nietzsche F.
  The Will to Power
• Baboshin V.V.
  Nihilism in modern society: phenomenon and essence: abstract. dis. doc. Philosopher n. Stavropol, 2011. 38 p.
• Tkachenko S.V.
  The myth of legal nihilism as one of the methods of information warfare.
• Tkachenko S.V.
  Reception of Western law in Russia: problems of interaction between subjects: monograph. - Samara, 2009.
• Rossinskaya E. R.
  Anti-corruption examination of normative legal acts and their projects. Compiled by E. R. Rossinskaya, Doctor of Law, Professor, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation.
• Gulyaikhin V.N.
  Legal nihilism in Russia. Volgograd: Peremena, 2005. 280 p.
• Gulyaikhin V.N.
  Psychosocial forms of human legal nihilism // NB: Questions of law and politics. 2012. No. 3. P. 108-148.
• De-Poulet M. F.
  Nihilism as a pathological phenomenon of Russian life. M.: University type. M. Katkova, 1881. 53 p.
• Klevanov A. S.
  Three modern questions: About education - socialism, communism and nihilism - about the nobility on the occasion of the centenary of the nobility charter. Kyiv: type. P. Barsky, 1885. 66 p.
• Kosykhin V.G.
  Critical analysis of the ontological foundations of nihilism: dis. doc. Philosopher n. Saratov, 2009. 364 p.
• Pigalev A.I.
  Philosophical nihilism and the crisis of culture. Saratov: Publishing house Sarat. Univ., 1991. 149 p.
• Ulyanov V. A.
  Development of nihilism in New and Contemporary times: theoretical aspect // Omsk Scientific Bulletin. - Omsk, 2009. No. 2 (76).

Kinds

Types of nihilism in modern society:

• social is the denial of norms, morality, rules, stereotypes;
• legal is the denial of laws, the regulatory framework of society;
• moral nihilism or ethical is the denial of morality and morality due to the inability to justify the evil and injustice of the whole world;
• cultural is the negation of culture, the creation of subcultures;
• youthful or demonstrative nihilism is the desire of a teenager to express himself, to stand out from the “gray mass”;
• mereological is the negation of something whole, unified.

There are other types of nihilism, for example, political, cosmic, existential. You can name even more types, the essence is one – denial, non-acceptance. Only the subject of negation changes. A common feature of all forms and types of nihilism is a rejection of the norms accepted in society.

Separately, it is worth noting positive nihilism. In short, its essence is this: we are all going to die anyway, so let’s have fun, enjoy ourselves and live the way we want. After death, it won't matter what you did right or wrong, so why not give up all these rules and regulations right now?

Links

• Nihilism // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
• M. Insarov. Nihilism of the 1860s and populism of the 1870s
• Definition of the term in the Dictionary of Ethics by I. S. Kohn (1981)
• Nihilism in Russia in the 19th century
• Article “Nihilists” in the Literary Encyclopedia (vol. 8, 1934)
• Rybakova E. A. The origin and spread of nihilism in Russia
• Filatov V.V. Omnia ex nihilo. Fragment from the book “Dreams of the Warriors of the Void” // Nezavisimaya Gazeta. No. 58, 25.03. 2010
• Ilya Ovchinnikov. Nihilism: a literature review.
• S. L. Frank. Ethics of nihilism // “Milestones. Collection of articles about the Russian intelligentsia", Moscow, 1909
• N. A. Berdyaev. Spirits of the Russian Revolution. 1918
• Ruchko Sergey Viktorovich. Lightnings of nihilism.
• Nihilist - APPLE

What is geographic determinism

Geographical determinism is a worldview concept that explains the socio-economic development of peoples and countries of the world by a geographical factor - geographical location, topography, climate, water, soil, plant and mineral resources4. As Doctor of Historical Sciences, Candidate of Philosophy Yuri Semenov notes, “the influence of the geographical factor on society and its development is indisputable. No one has ever denied it. And the recognition of this fact in itself cannot in any way be called geographical determinism. We can talk about geographical determinism only when the natural environment is taken as the main, fundamental factor determining the nature of social life”5.

Indeed, when we say that geographical and climatic conditions influence the economy or create certain specifics, this is a completely adequate way of looking at things. However, when it is said that a country cannot become prosperous because of the climate, this is already geographical determinism.

Now we do not mean lands that have not been developed by man. It is clear that it is very difficult to create prosperity in Antarctica. We are talking about those lands where human settlements have existed for a long time.

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Different levels of prosperity in the same climate

The concept of geographic determinism is overturned by a mass of examples showing how, under the same geographical conditions (sometimes even in the same time period), completely different economic conditions are formed. For example, today we can see different levels of development in neighboring cities - Moscow and Tver. While the average salary in Moscow in 2019 was 79.7 thousand rubles30, in Tver, which is very close and has similar weather conditions, it was 33.3 thousand rubles in the same year31. More than half of the Bentley brand cars sold in Russia in 2020 - 73 cars - were registered in Moscow32. There are no statistics for Tver, but judging by the fact that it is not mentioned in the leaders, no more than 2 units of these cars were sold there. Obviously, the reason for this discrepancy is not the climate, but, first of all, the different levels of development of the production of goods and services, and secondly, the fact of Tver’s subordination to Moscow. But even without subordination to each other, cities have differences in development, such as Las Vegas and Henderson.

The first cities in history appeared on the territory of modern Iraq33, the metal was first smelted on the territory of modern Turkey34. At that time, these regions were at the forefront of the development of all mankind, but today Iraq and Turkey are considered more likely to be “developing” countries. Although the climatic and geographical conditions here have not changed during this time. Geographical determinism is also unable to explain why Japan and China at different periods of their history were either lagging or technically advanced countries (for example, Richard Thames talks about the profound transformation of Japan over the course of 50 years from the policy of “backward feudal isolation” to the status of “great powers"35).

As noted by famous economists Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson in their study on the wealth of countries, before colonization, more developed civilizations were created in the territory of modern Central and Latin America than in the territory of modern North America, but today the situation is exactly the opposite, despite the preservation of the climate:

History shows that there is no simple, long-term relationship between climate and geography on the one hand and economic prosperity on the other. In particular, people did not always live poorer in the tropics than in temperate latitudes. As we saw in the previous chapter, at the time of Columbus's discovery of America, the great civilizations of the Aztecs and Incas existed south of the Tropic of Cancer and north of the Tropic of Capricorn (that is, in the territory of modern Mexico, Central America, Peru and Bolivia). These were politically centralized and rather complex empires, whose governments knew how to build roads and organize assistance to their subjects during famine. The Aztecs had writing and money; The Incas, although they did not have these two most important elements of an advanced civilization, were able to record large amounts of information using complex rope plexuses and knots called quipus. On the contrary, those civilizations that existed to the north and south of them during the times of the Aztecs and Incas (that is, in the territory of the modern USA, Canada, Argentina and Chile) lived for the most part in the Stone Age and did not possess such advanced technologies. The American tropics were thus much richer than the American temperate latitudes36.

Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson

The authors also give the example of the Mexican and American parts of the city of Nogales - in fact, the same city, only in the Mexican part the salary is on average three times lower, the majority of adult residents have not completed school, there is a high level of infant mortality and other attributes of poverty37.

Finally, one of the most egregious examples is the neighboring cities of Kirkenes (Norway) and Nikel (Russia), which are separated by a border:

At the same time, the difference between cities is colossal. Their detailed comparison in photographs can be seen on Ilya Varlamov’s blog38. Like o39. Here are some photographs he took in Russian Nikel:

And these are photographs from Kirkenes, Norway:

It is enough to visit both cities to doubt that it is the climate that prevents the creation of prosperity.

All of the above examples completely refute the geographical theory. You may ask, what really causes prosperity? We refer you to our article on why some countries are rich and others poor, as well as our article on how economic growth is achieved. In short, prosperity is driven by good government policies and building inclusive institutions.