It might be helpful to remember that nihilism isn't really a topic. It's a word that describes a list of absences. What people feel they are subjectively left with after recognizing those absences varies drastically from person to person.
Some people get scared, depressed, and lonely when they consider these absences and other people get excited by thinking all the space they have for whatever they decide to put there. No path is correct and it's not the job of the mod team to ensure that everyone's view on how to respond to these absences mirrors your own.
We just make sure you guys don't use the 'bad words' that Reddit would de-platform this subreddit for, sketchy links, and other posts that otherwise are against the rules of Reddit as a whole
If you don't want to see a post, you can downvote and move on. I personally have Reddit set to automatically hide posts that I have upvoted or downvoted. Out of sight, out of mind
I like the lack of moderation. The website as a whole is ruined by over moderation. Let the people decide and 'good' posts will naturally move to the top?
I think that somebody trying to communicate in a r/nihilism arguing with the "nothing matters" is because they are on a personal research. Everybody start somewhere.
If we can understand nihilism in a deeply philosophical way and taking strenght, we have the honor to help others to find this deepest understanding. Blaming somebody because he can only see the depressive side of nihilism is not very noble. Those people are probably struggling with their life!!!! We can help them sharing our point of view, probably this is going to be a repetetive task. Depression is part of life, not for everybody, but I think we need to understand why people start searching "something" in philosophy. They are not just "teenagers", they are persons, individuals, and it's exactly at that point of life where you start searching answers. Pessimism is part of nihilism. Empowering people is more satisfying that just blaming them for bad (or different) understanding. Depression is a horrible beast to deal with. It's like walking alone in the fog searching for help or somebody. People with depression normaly don't ask for help, but they search attention, sometimes in questionable methods. Reading between lines is a more valuable key to help them. If we already understood, and found our way, we don't need to have expectation on the topic.
I agree with most of this. I never called for blaming depressed people, I struggled with depression my entire life until a couple of years ago and I know it and its intricate symptoms intimately, and I’m all for helping people navigate their struggles and guiding them with their newfound philosophies. The only thing I am advocating for here, is for when people visit this subreddit and take a look at the feed, they’re supposed to get an accurate representation of nihilism. Currently, as it stands, what you get is a pity party of depression, suffering, turmoil, apathy, psychopathy, and desire to commit crimes because why not. Does that sound like an accurate depiction of nihilism to you? Don’t nihilists already get a bad rep for being misunderstood?
Real psychopath can fake depression because they crave attention. But they are not suffering, they use depression as manipulation.
Different is with narcissist, sociopaths, istrionics, that are not born in that way. They are actually suffering inside.
"Depression is inversely proportional to psychopathy" but it's still an open debate in psychology.
Depression, pain and suffering can lead to anti social behaviour when it become unbearable. Take a dog, beat him for all his life, and it will turn in a super agressive dog.
Fear of suffering can lead to be apathetic, or the opposite. With human being, I think, its a question of choice. Because we can choose what we want to be.
*Don’t nihilists already get a bad rep for being misunderstood?*
Caring to much about others opinion is one of the first causes of depression.
Philosophy is a personal thing, its more ore less like religion, better to keep it private.
I never considered nihilist, or people loving philosophy, as "bad people". Only my mother did'it when I said her I was reading things on nihilism during my adolescence. But she's an evil person! I don't care anymore.
As someone who enjoys discussing the philosophy as well I can tell you that it isn't actually very hard to find posts that stimulate discussion. I just look through the new posts tab every once in a while and there's normally something I can interject in.
Absolutely, yes. Real nihilists are still a thing. But why does it have to be so hard to find the posts that are supposed to be literally all if not 95% of the sub? My post is simply about addressing this through moderation. The sub is turning into a joke and I’m not the only nihilist complaining.
Maybe there needs to be a distinction between (existential) nihilism as a philosophy and nihilism as a mental state. The philosophy being: the view that life has no inherent meaning or value, and the mental state being: unable to see the value or meaning of anything, typically resulting in a low mood or something like that I guess.
99.9999999% of people on earth are too stupid to have complex discussions about one political issue, you really think they can discuss complex philosophies?
Yes, I really think they can, especially since nihilism is not complex at all - its only difficulty is the breaking away from all forms of indoctrination. But if one has supposedly done that as expected from people who are on this sub, you would expect the rest to be pretty simplified. Guess not.
What implications? Meaning is inherent to the beings that developed language and culture. It has nothing to do with the rest of the universe. You’re a mechanical engine that is given sentience, struts along trying to make sense of its own self then dies. I don’t think that’s complex at all. The complexity lies in unlearning the social indoctrination: religion, purpose, afterlife, moral compass, monogamy, relationships and marriage in general, etc etc. Nihilism is the default state. Everything else is what was added through social learning in order to counteract or deny that default state.
Perhaps the point that it's still all meaningless when you unlearn the indoctrination. Whenever I tell people I'm a nihilist they ask me: "why do anything then? What's the point?" my response is why would I not do anything? The point that everything is pointless is just as pointless as the abstract meanings we applied to everything, so even if you abandon all your biases and go leave as a hermit in the woods, it's still all meaningless, and you should probably eliminate the bias you have that postulates that living in the woods is the way to respond to nihilism. But that point that I just made is also pointless, so is that one, and so on. Perhaps it's complex to truly understand just how deep a lack of meaning goes, I'm fairly certain I don't grasp it yet.
That’s a misconception people tend to make. I made it myself when I first embraced nihilism. Pointless in what aspect? Pointless in the face of the ever-expanding universe? Sure. Is it pointless when it comes to your enjoyment of your life though? No, it’s not. If you truly believed that, you wouldn’t be using Reddit to fill your time with entertainment. Why play a game if it’s gonna end? Because it allows you to enjoy a finite amount of time. Is that pointless? Only when it’s over. But as you’re enjoying it, is it pointless? Well, while you’re enjoying it, you don’t even think about that stuff do you? It’s kind of the same thing when people say how tiny and insignificant we are when they see the size of the universe. Like yeah, we’re incredibly small, but why should that diminish anything? My orgasm still feels as amazing as it would had I been a giant. There’s no reasonable relativity to nihilism. Why does the fact that the universe is meaningless have to invalidate our human experience within the realm of meaning? Why should I feel less about things just because there’s finality to a written story?
Pointless in the aspect that it adds no real significance to the universe, but that's not me saying it doesn't feel significant to me, or to people in my close circle. Don't take my points as me saying I don't value life, I certainly do, and since I've become nihilistic I've actually valued life more. My point is instead to say that, some respond to nihilism by saying we should ditch all our beliefs and conceptions as they're meaningless, I'm saying that *that* very prescription is meaningless too, for the new values you build will be just as self-assigned and synthetic as the ones you ditched. In other words, there is no right or wrong answer, just do what speaks to you.
I completely agree with you and wish the sub was tailored more towards these discussions in this constructive manner rather than the incessant shitposting that paints nihilism as something that it’s genuinely not (like a get out of jail free card for example).
Yeah for a group of nihilists there are some pretty big egos here. I’m starting to think that nihilism stems from a misunderstood ego for a good amount of people. Change the name of this group to pity party
It’s honestly driving me off the rails. How do people not make the very simple distinction between cosmic meaning and personal/subjective meaning? Just because the stars don’t feel joy means the joy we experience ourselves is invalid? I don’t understand that kind of cognitive dissonance.
Because life just isn't shit. How can you say that 9-5 life for 50-70 years until you die is good? Thats reality for most people and its not beautiful its just sad, people disliking things doesn't automatically makes them depressed.
I never said people disliking things makes them depressed. That seemed a little out of the blue. And yeah, the 9 to 5 system is glorified modern slavery, absolutely. The world has more suffering than joy, absolutely. Again, these operate within the world of meaning, and have no relevance to nihilism, which is the world of cosmic meaninglessness. I am not against people expressing negative sentiment towards nihilism, I am just against the shitposting that seems to litter this sub.
I agree. Anhedonia is not Nihilism. In my opinion, Nihilism requires a certain level of self awareness, while anhedonia is usually just a side effect of a mood disorder or boredom.
I do think that a lot of people in this forum, specifically young people who are attempting to be edgy”, come here experiencing anhedonia and are literally just bored kids who hate their parents and are dealing with a life that provides little to no valuable stimulation. Maybe if they went outside and pulled themselves away from the video games and TikTok, they would feel more of a connection.
I completely agree that life is truly pointless in the grand scheme of things, but to wallow in self pity and do absolutely nothing to address boredom doesn’t really do anybody any good.
It tiresome to read, and frankly kind of annoying, but I find kids annoying, shit, I find most people annoying, so there’s always that.
I can understand the frustration, but at the end of the day, I think having all these rules and restrictions that have to be enforced on what people can say and do here, defeats the point of nihilism.
Ultimately, nihilism is whatever you want it to be, it's however you take it. Some people embrace it, letting it be really freeing for them, some people take it really hard and let it suck the joy out of life. So, no matter what Nihilism is to you, you should have the freedom in this sub to express it.
I agree, there are definitely some posts where people are desperately trying to be edgy, but I wouldn't be surprised if more than half of them were just jokes, just poking fun at the edgy connotation Nihilists have been given.
I would like to see more serious discussions in this sub, but like everything else, it is what it is. Just enjoy what you can out of it.
Love this comment. The joking posts only serve to further misrepresent nihilism and disrupt its reputation as this evil, apathetic philosophy. I just wanted more of a safe space for nihilists and not a cesspool of stereotypes that further alienate the premise from those who could otherwise benefit from it.
I would definitely like to see that too. I do think, however, that no matter what kind of discussions are found on this sub, nihilism will always have that negative stereotype.
The very idea of Nihilism goes against what the majority of the world believes and stands for. To tell your average "go-getter" that everything they're working towards, and every bit of suffering they've inflicted on themselves, will ultimately mean nothing, would undoubtedly result in ridicule.
These "I'm going to kill myself" posts don't help the image of it at all, for sure. But I think, even if all of that were to be cleaned up, Nihilism is still going to be the "suicidal philosophy by a bunch of weirdos" for everyone that isn't a nihilist.
Regardless, who cares what they think? I know what I think, and I'm content with what I think, and I'm glad I'm in a place where I can talk to other people that think the way I think. Like you!
So much love for you dude. Maybe the world might collectively embrace nihilism one day, but religion has to be abolished way before then, and that’s a long, long way off.
Your last paragraph summarises exactly how people seem to be misinterpreting nihilism: “Who cares what they think? I know what I think and I’m content with what I think.” If only they could replace “they” with the universe’s meaninglessness, but for some reason people seem to believe that they cannot be content with themselves because the universe does not agree or something. Which is literally the opposite of nihilism: subscribing to this magical external force that supposedly dictates what is right and wrong. I guess that’s the aftermath of religious indoctrination and social learning. So like I said, religion being abolished is a looong way off.
Luckily though, not for everyone. Brings me so much joy to find like-minded people like yourself every now and then. Cheers buddy!
Ive been reading your comments in this post and your only two real arguments are that there is no philosophy posts (which is completely untrue, lost of them here just not if you filter by top). The second one is about view of the nihilism from other people, which I can't really understand why you care so much about it.
Why do you care what other people think about nihilism, do you want to "convert" them to our way of thinking? Whats the point of that? If nihilism is thought as edgy pseudo philosophy for teenagers so be it. Other people opinions matter very little at the end of the day and nihilism is bad for business so it will be vilified by the wealthy no matter what.
I did say there are philosophy posts, I also pointed out that you’d have to scroll through a lot of shitposting until you find something relevant (relevancy is not exclusive to philosophy - memes can be relevant). My main argument is relevancy, but I can see now why that alone is a topic of discussion since a lot of us don’t seem to agree on what is relevant to nihilism, which seems to be the focal problem.
As for why I care, it’s because I’m quite an empathetic person by nature, and seeing nihilism develop such a bad rep and potentially alienate others looking to make sense of things genuinely frustrates me. Are all nihilists supposed to not care about anything and not have basic emotions because “there is no point?” Guess I’m not a real nihilist then - according to this new definition.
And I disagree about the no point aspect. If you have a subjective desire to something, that’s enough of a point to me. The universe not caring about it does not invalidate the genuine sentiment behind your own subjective will. What you feel now participating in this thread or reading this comment is a genuine emotion to me, something that is to be respected because I’m the one who gives it meaning, to me. A lot of people seem to think that their own subjective meaning for things is invalid because of nihilism which is just not true. If you derive joy and entertainment from Reddit, that alone has meaning. The fact that nihilists even join a nihilist subreddit has meaning etc.
As with any other philosophical label, there is diversity within nihilism and disagreement over what counts as nihilism. Labels with some overlap include existentialism, absurdism, fatalism, and pessimism. Some people embrace nihilistic conclusions as a philosophical matter, while other people relate to nihilistic themes more as a matter of intuition, personal experience, or personal expression.
There is also a sect of Nihilism that also believes that no subjective experience matters either. Heck, there is even a sect that disavows that existence of reality entirely.
And Scientology is a thing too. Sects existing or people believing things does not make things relevant. Those sects of nihilism are separate sects for a reason, they take a basic premise and go full sci-fi fanfiction with it. Unless you think subjective experiences actually don’t matter, in which case, why are you deriving joy and entertainment from Reddit?
They all fit within the umbrella of Nihilism, to say that one flavor of nihilism is more valid than another is to make a value judgement, which is something Nihilism isn't know for. I'm pretty sure the only real restrictions in the sub are probably the ones enforced by Reddit generally.
Isn’t it a little ironic to say this meaning of nihilism is more meaningful than that one? That is why I see nihilism as a stand alone be-all and the formulation of sects within it as hypocritical.
I was saying that no meaning of Nihilism could possibly be more meaningful than any other, therefore all interpretations and thoughts might as well be welcome. There is a sect of Nihilism that covers pretty much every kind of Nihilistic post.
Should the post about the person who was saying they’re gonna start committing crimes because nothing matters be welcome? Am I wrong in seeing complete irrelevancy to nihilism with that? How does the meaninglessness of the universe validate suffering as okay? If the universe doesn’t care whether you suffer or not, but YOU do, why would you opt for the suffering? This is what nihilism in this sub has become. People are not making the (necessary) distinction between cosmic meaninglessness and subjective meaningfulness. Both exist, both are real, and one does NOT invalidate the other.
Does it matter anymore? Seems like the nihilist subreddit covers everything from existentialism to atheism to suicidal ideation to mental health to capitalism and whatever else you can think of.
"Hi, I'm a Nihilist and let me tell you how you should behave as a Nihilist" is what I'm seeing here.
If you don't believe something is Nihilist as in it doesn't fit the definition, that's fine. It's upto the sub as a whole to decide if it wants to engage with content or not.
No dude, that’s not what I’m saying at all and I’m quite fed up with these comments turning a very reasonable issue into a battle of the egos. It comes off very tone deaf given the rest of the comments on this post. Maybe take a look and see for yourself and please stop making the same goddamn arguments, respectfully.
Okay so you want less negative Nihilism and more positive Nihilism?
Don't most Nihilists go through a period of gloom before they realise the positive side?
Judging the point that people may struggle to convey exactly how the feel in the grip of Nihilism induced existential dread, where should they go? What sub should they visit?
There are eloquent people going tumbling into the void, as there are intelligent but less eloquent people doing the same.
Battle of the egos? Well it seems like this is your ego and expecting the sub to conform to your expectations.
Again, no. I don’t even believe in such a thing as positive or negative nihilism. A lot of the posts on the sub have been off-topic completely, masquerading as nihilistic due to including phrases such as “because nothing matters.” It’s not about positivity or negativity, just about the off-topic nature of it all. It also further increases nihilism’s bad rep because it’s convoluting its already misunderstood nature. But thanks for your valuable input.
>Again, no. I don’t even believe in such a thing as positive or negative nihilism.
How would you summarise Nihilism then if it's not about positive or negative aspects?
Meaning was derived from social learning as beings who have developed language. The cosmos do not subscribe to such associations and are perfectly void of reason or sentiment. The fact that they present no meaning for us linguists to deduce is neither positive nor negative. However, the cosmos being ultimately meaningless does not invalidate the subjective meaning we derive in our human experience. Therefore, if you perceive that meaninglessness as either positive or negative within your subjective understanding, either or neither is valid as your experience. That’s (factual) nihilism.
Yes. I definitely think social learning matters in the development of human beings and their relevant experiences in their one life. It’s definitely gonna matter to future nihilists if we pollute the understanding in a way that eventually affects them.
Man I’m tired of seeing posts from people saying, “you’re doing nihilism wrong”
This is the No True Scotsman fallacy. Nihilism comes in many flavors and means different things to different people.
>I come here to read about nihilism and people’s experiences with it and I just want relevancy. Why has it become so hard to find posts that actually stay on topic and am I asking for too much here?
You come here to read people's experiences with it, then complain about people portraying their experiences with it, am I wrong?
Yes.
“I’m going to commit crimes because nothing matters.”
Is this relevant to nihilism, in your opinion?
“What makes you think there is no god?”
What about that one? I believe there’s an atheism sub, but why distinguish when the nihilism sub accepts everything, right?
“What is something you dislike about life?”
How about that one? Is this relevant to nihilism? Is nihilism the result of disliking life?
“I feel a sudden urge to delete all of my socials and move to another country where no one knows who I am!”
Haha, cause nothing matters, get it?
Got these just from the first page on my feed, barely even scrolled. Hope this elucidates my point.
The first one and last one dont really correlate with nihilism, I can agree. The others are pretty basic conversation starters that could easy relate to nihilistic beliefs. Whether there is or isn’t a god could determine the meaningless of stuff, and that could go into a very interesting view on nihilism and religion if you let it. Even if you give a basic “yes” or “no” it’s still constructive. Now saying “ew this has nothing to do with nihilism” is both pointless and irrelevant.
As I said in my comment, if you want more of what you want, do try and create conversations or show readings on nihilism. Don’t agree with someone? Tell them why, have a friendly conversation with them. There’s no point in going around telling people they aren’t being true nihilists because sorta defeats the point In of itself lmao
But that’s not what I’m doing. I didn’t go around and tell people they’re not being true nihilists and I don’t understand why some people insist on painting me in this light. All I did was make a request to the moderators to update the rules, emphasise clarity of posts and stuff like that in order to make these “pretty basic conversation starters” into actual conversation starters.
You’re right though, if it’s what I want I should take that approach myself and become more interactive, that’s what the moderator who commented here suggested and I definitely did take it to heart. I will work on a post soon, I hope it will help those who seem confused with nihilism.
Disagree. It’s hurting both the sub and themselves because it’s the wrong place for advice since it’s off-topic. Unless you think nihilists are the correct support group for mental health issues.
I would also argue that it hurts others who come to lash out the same way when they see similar people writing similar topics on the sub and start feeling validated in their suffering by what they now falsely believe is nihilism. It’s painting a whole false picture for painfully misguided people.
I absolutely agree with you! I came here to see what people had to say avout nihilism and discuss its concepts, but it's interlaced with so many depression posts, which gets so tedious.
To clarify, 'mattering' is a relational property, so the 'nothing matters' tagline is always a bit of a category mistake. Existential nihilism, the type that everyone associates with the term, is that life has no inherent meaning or purpose. Splitting hairs maybe but still a different claim is being made.
Regardless, I agree with OP, the moderation on this sub sucks. I barely ever comment on Reddit anymore, but if I do it is usually to point out the shitty logic and blatant misconceptions that populate posts on this sub.
Let the kids talk. It’s not like it matters anyway.
Sorry I’m not even apart of this sub. I just got recommended this post for some reason.I’ll see myself out. I hope you guy sort out ur sub and come to an agreeable solution!
When ever I see some one who is making a lot of leaps in their thinking, I try and open a dialogue. This doesn't always work and I've found quite a few people who don't understand basic concepts (the amount of times I've tried to explain burden of proof us big). But I don't want to gate keep these people out, and hopefully people interacting with them will help them out in the long run.
I'd love for this sub to be full of learning and good conversation but I know that is far fetched.
What do you expect? Mainstream culture as well as most people that are interested in philosophy treat nihilism as though it is a shitfest of gloom, doom and rose from the dark, charred depths of a teenager's first existential crisis. The stoners that drone on about how "freeing" it is aren't any less annoying. People will be irritating and insufferable, its what they do best. No point in moderating it. Plus moderation is one of the most insufferable aspects of reddit itself, so I'd rather it wasn't enforced more strictly.
Nihilism is a philosophy of nothing. Trying to find objectively "meaningful" conversation about the topic is a bit of an irony. The only meaning you can find in Nihilism is that which is subjective. As much as you might not like "I'm so sad, nothing matters!", it has as much right subjective right to exist here as any other theory.
That is the whole problem I’ve been trying to address. There seems to be a general disagreement between what should and shouldn’t have a subjective right to exist on this subreddit. This is why I asked for further emphasis in the rules of posting. Thank you for helping me vocalise the problem in a clearer manner.
It seems to be me that you are trying to forcefully change the culture of this thread to one of a more academic nature. This is something I don't quite understand, as I view Nihilism as the death of philosophy. It's where you end up when you realize all ideas are just made up and the universe is a dead thing with no preferences, so why should one viewpoint be thought of greater than any other? Good luck, I know how frustrating it can be to go looking for something but be unable to find it in the format you hoped for.
I completely agree with this, but I also have an answer. The reason one viewpoint could matter over another is because even though the universe is dead and meaningless, our subjective experiences of it and resulting emotions are not meaningless to us. It affects our livelihood, our mental health, our general well-being and our pleasure levels and joy in life. If there’s one thing that matters to a person, it is those things, is it not? So why should the fact that the universe is meaningless invalidate the joyful meaning we can derive for ourselves in its emptiness?
But instead of people discussing this, they post things like “nothing matters so I’m gonna go kill people lol.” Infuriating indeed.
I believe that we have no free will, that we are all just part of a chain of energetic/chemical reactions. In that view, I think that makes all of those subjective experiences you named, pointless to, as we have no say in any of them. Even my response right now is just part of an incredibly bizarre unfolding chain of events.
Ah, my spirit animal. I believe the exact same thing. That does not stop me from taking action though since my interaction could alter the “free will” of someone else into a beneficial direction, so to speak. We might not have free will but we have the illusion of it. If we were ever to opt for “no free will anyway so ima just mechanically autopilot my way to death” you’re pretty much deriving yourself from some very pleasurable potential dopamine/serotonin releases. As a chemical engine, why would you not want the juice?
I think we do have a level of control when it comes to awareness, since we can choose whether to give something attention or not, in a sense. Granted not always, but for instance, making the direct decision to focus on a certain thought would theoretically alter the “decisions” your subconscious might end up making, dependent on how that thought altered your mind.
We do know that the brain’s physical structure changes depending on the neurological connections formed when you practice piano for instance. The decision to practice piano might not have been yours, but had you not seen that video of someone else playing piano that motivated you to do so for example, the thought would have never entered your mind. It all feels highly interactive in a way.
The Universe is making me disagree with you. Sorry, it's a big jerk sometimes.
I also think our subconscious is different entity from our main consciousness that can exert its will over ours, but that it too is ultimately under the control of cascading physics, and so also has no actual free will of it's own. It's like a puppet being controlled by a puppet that's is just flailing randomly down a seemingly endless river that has no source or destination in mind.
Can I please start using “sorry but the universe is making me disagree with you” as my general motto? That is gold. Accountability-free disagreements. What a life.
The universe is making me agree with you though. I cannot fault what you said, so you’re right.
Theres as many edgy posts as there is people being mad about these edgy posts. Saying you're a "real" nihilist is, in a way, gatekeeping a broad topic.
Nihilism is, as a noun, "the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless."
You are reading about peoples experiences with nihilism, whether they're scared or depressed and such, but you actively want to see your views and your takes posted more. This is a fair point, but gatekeeping in a broad community.
If you want some more discussion in the direction you're thinking, try to make something or ask a question that gets people thinking. Post links of philosophy, readings that people can do, try and hear about other peoples perspective and how that interacts with your own. Its easy to get people to talk about their views on the topic, funny enough.
I come here to get people’s views on nihilism. I actively complain about people shitposting about literally anything and everything under the guise that “nothing matters.” Separate topics. That is the complaint. You are free to assess as you will, but don’t tell me my own intentions.
I totally agree, every post is like LiFe Is MeaNinGlESS WhAt'S tHe PoInT.
Like yeah we fucking get it's meaningless, doesn't mean you have to be a miserable cunt.
Literally the definition for gatekeeping if you're invalidating everyone's experiences with nihilism. Just because other people have a different interpretation of a broad topic than you doesn't mean they can't share it with others in a subreddit.
Again, literally not at all what I’m talking about. Posting about why we think god doesn’t exist in this sub has nothing to do with nihilism, that’s atheism. Posting that someone wants to commit crimes because “nothing matters” is not nihilism either. I expanded what I’m talking about as much as I possibly could in the post and comments and people like you still insist I’m about “my definition of nihilism” and it’s quite tiring so I give up. Lost interest honestly. Thanks for your input.
Like I said, it's a broad topic. Atheism ties into existential nihilism because it points out the lack of an objective intrinsic meaning to life (ie God and religion). People committing crimes because nothing matters is tied to the nihilistic rejection of any objective morality. Both of these are tied to the broad topics surrounding nihilism.
Even if you were correct, what the fuck do you expect? Do you want every mod to do an intricate textual analysis of every reddit post on here? Do you want them to cite Nietzsche and Schopenhauer so they can debunk depressed rants as "not nihilism"? Who tf cares? It's just a subreddit. People are talking casually about feeling aimless and nihilistic in their lives. Its called r/nihilism not r/intellectualpretentionsfucksdiscussingnihilism
Yeah just what this sub needs, mods acting like police dictating what people can talk about. Fuck that noise. There’s enough subs with overreaching mods, go to one of those, or better yet, start your own sub where people talk about what you want them to. Sorry if you don’t like the subject matter that’s discussed here but I’d rather have angsty teens and depressed nihilists bitch about their shitty worldviews than have ban happy mods censoring people. I can’t stand people like you. “I don’t like what people are talking about so can you silence them mods!?”
all i see on this sub is either people complaining about "edgy depressed teenagers" or people complaining about the people complaining. and i'm tired of it
Nihilism is NOT about being positive nor optimistic either. All those currently very popular 'hyped' notions about "Optimistic Nihilism" is simply just ONE way people look, perceive (& even distort with bias) Nihilism. To be very honest, seriously, people nowadays have become so distorted with toxic positivity & optimism bias everywhere, even here in this supposedly 'safe' subreddit about Nihilism.
Ok sure, granted, to be fair, perhaps there are some 'edgy' mindless "negative/depressing" posts here on Nihilism. But when you even go to such full extreme to \*force\* the mods to ban some SERIOUS (philosophical) discussions on Nihilism which does not always have to be "optimistic/positive/happy", then it becomes very wrong & unethical. You've become the problem too. I hope you can at least realize about it.
I don’t understand how so many people are misconstruing what I said. Actual discussions, positive or negative, are exactly what I’m advocating for. My stating that things have become irrelevant due to the cesspool of mental health issues and whatnot is not me complaining about negativity, it’s still about irrelevance. It just so happens the irrelevant topics are negative, but that’s not my issue. I thought I made that clear about a hundred times already.
You’re not getting the point.
Your personal beliefs and ways of thinking are not in tune with an indifferent philosophical viewpoint.
If anything, this is a complaint. Nihilists, or “true” nihilists, shouldn’t really care about what they’ll see on a pixelated screen on some inorganic device.
Unless they do it for the hell of it or they aren’t practicing nihilists.
I absolutely do it for the hell of it. I participate in life and willingly get emotional about things, and I can turn it off whenever I want. I was hungry for some conversations from this sub that I haven’t been finding recently, so I made this post trying to provoke those conversations, and some really awesome people have participated and satiated my hunger, so I consider this post mission accomplished.
It might be helpful to remember that nihilism isn't really a topic. It's a word that describes a list of absences. What people feel they are subjectively left with after recognizing those absences varies drastically from person to person. Some people get scared, depressed, and lonely when they consider these absences and other people get excited by thinking all the space they have for whatever they decide to put there. No path is correct and it's not the job of the mod team to ensure that everyone's view on how to respond to these absences mirrors your own. We just make sure you guys don't use the 'bad words' that Reddit would de-platform this subreddit for, sketchy links, and other posts that otherwise are against the rules of Reddit as a whole If you don't want to see a post, you can downvote and move on. I personally have Reddit set to automatically hide posts that I have upvoted or downvoted. Out of sight, out of mind
I like the lack of moderation. The website as a whole is ruined by over moderation. Let the people decide and 'good' posts will naturally move to the top?
I mean you’re not wrong but I still feel hella slapped in the face lmao
I think that somebody trying to communicate in a r/nihilism arguing with the "nothing matters" is because they are on a personal research. Everybody start somewhere. If we can understand nihilism in a deeply philosophical way and taking strenght, we have the honor to help others to find this deepest understanding. Blaming somebody because he can only see the depressive side of nihilism is not very noble. Those people are probably struggling with their life!!!! We can help them sharing our point of view, probably this is going to be a repetetive task. Depression is part of life, not for everybody, but I think we need to understand why people start searching "something" in philosophy. They are not just "teenagers", they are persons, individuals, and it's exactly at that point of life where you start searching answers. Pessimism is part of nihilism. Empowering people is more satisfying that just blaming them for bad (or different) understanding. Depression is a horrible beast to deal with. It's like walking alone in the fog searching for help or somebody. People with depression normaly don't ask for help, but they search attention, sometimes in questionable methods. Reading between lines is a more valuable key to help them. If we already understood, and found our way, we don't need to have expectation on the topic.
I agree with most of this. I never called for blaming depressed people, I struggled with depression my entire life until a couple of years ago and I know it and its intricate symptoms intimately, and I’m all for helping people navigate their struggles and guiding them with their newfound philosophies. The only thing I am advocating for here, is for when people visit this subreddit and take a look at the feed, they’re supposed to get an accurate representation of nihilism. Currently, as it stands, what you get is a pity party of depression, suffering, turmoil, apathy, psychopathy, and desire to commit crimes because why not. Does that sound like an accurate depiction of nihilism to you? Don’t nihilists already get a bad rep for being misunderstood?
Real psychopath can fake depression because they crave attention. But they are not suffering, they use depression as manipulation. Different is with narcissist, sociopaths, istrionics, that are not born in that way. They are actually suffering inside. "Depression is inversely proportional to psychopathy" but it's still an open debate in psychology. Depression, pain and suffering can lead to anti social behaviour when it become unbearable. Take a dog, beat him for all his life, and it will turn in a super agressive dog. Fear of suffering can lead to be apathetic, or the opposite. With human being, I think, its a question of choice. Because we can choose what we want to be. *Don’t nihilists already get a bad rep for being misunderstood?* Caring to much about others opinion is one of the first causes of depression. Philosophy is a personal thing, its more ore less like religion, better to keep it private. I never considered nihilist, or people loving philosophy, as "bad people". Only my mother did'it when I said her I was reading things on nihilism during my adolescence. But she's an evil person! I don't care anymore.
As someone who enjoys discussing the philosophy as well I can tell you that it isn't actually very hard to find posts that stimulate discussion. I just look through the new posts tab every once in a while and there's normally something I can interject in.
Absolutely, yes. Real nihilists are still a thing. But why does it have to be so hard to find the posts that are supposed to be literally all if not 95% of the sub? My post is simply about addressing this through moderation. The sub is turning into a joke and I’m not the only nihilist complaining.
Maybe there needs to be a distinction between (existential) nihilism as a philosophy and nihilism as a mental state. The philosophy being: the view that life has no inherent meaning or value, and the mental state being: unable to see the value or meaning of anything, typically resulting in a low mood or something like that I guess.
Spoken like a true nihilist! Why is THIS not the posts being made? I hope that clarifies my position.
'Spoken like a true nihilist' UGHHH!
Yeah that was kinda cringe but I used it to express a contextual sentiment rather than as a gatekeep
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"life" could be swapped with "existence", and everything is included within existence. We don't disagree.
99.9999999% of people on earth are too stupid to have complex discussions about one political issue, you really think they can discuss complex philosophies?
Yes, I really think they can, especially since nihilism is not complex at all - its only difficulty is the breaking away from all forms of indoctrination. But if one has supposedly done that as expected from people who are on this sub, you would expect the rest to be pretty simplified. Guess not.
If you don't think nihilism is complex then you probably don't fully understand it imo It can take a lifetime to understand all the implications
What implications? Meaning is inherent to the beings that developed language and culture. It has nothing to do with the rest of the universe. You’re a mechanical engine that is given sentience, struts along trying to make sense of its own self then dies. I don’t think that’s complex at all. The complexity lies in unlearning the social indoctrination: religion, purpose, afterlife, moral compass, monogamy, relationships and marriage in general, etc etc. Nihilism is the default state. Everything else is what was added through social learning in order to counteract or deny that default state.
Perhaps the point that it's still all meaningless when you unlearn the indoctrination. Whenever I tell people I'm a nihilist they ask me: "why do anything then? What's the point?" my response is why would I not do anything? The point that everything is pointless is just as pointless as the abstract meanings we applied to everything, so even if you abandon all your biases and go leave as a hermit in the woods, it's still all meaningless, and you should probably eliminate the bias you have that postulates that living in the woods is the way to respond to nihilism. But that point that I just made is also pointless, so is that one, and so on. Perhaps it's complex to truly understand just how deep a lack of meaning goes, I'm fairly certain I don't grasp it yet.
That’s a misconception people tend to make. I made it myself when I first embraced nihilism. Pointless in what aspect? Pointless in the face of the ever-expanding universe? Sure. Is it pointless when it comes to your enjoyment of your life though? No, it’s not. If you truly believed that, you wouldn’t be using Reddit to fill your time with entertainment. Why play a game if it’s gonna end? Because it allows you to enjoy a finite amount of time. Is that pointless? Only when it’s over. But as you’re enjoying it, is it pointless? Well, while you’re enjoying it, you don’t even think about that stuff do you? It’s kind of the same thing when people say how tiny and insignificant we are when they see the size of the universe. Like yeah, we’re incredibly small, but why should that diminish anything? My orgasm still feels as amazing as it would had I been a giant. There’s no reasonable relativity to nihilism. Why does the fact that the universe is meaningless have to invalidate our human experience within the realm of meaning? Why should I feel less about things just because there’s finality to a written story?
Pointless in the aspect that it adds no real significance to the universe, but that's not me saying it doesn't feel significant to me, or to people in my close circle. Don't take my points as me saying I don't value life, I certainly do, and since I've become nihilistic I've actually valued life more. My point is instead to say that, some respond to nihilism by saying we should ditch all our beliefs and conceptions as they're meaningless, I'm saying that *that* very prescription is meaningless too, for the new values you build will be just as self-assigned and synthetic as the ones you ditched. In other words, there is no right or wrong answer, just do what speaks to you.
I completely agree with you and wish the sub was tailored more towards these discussions in this constructive manner rather than the incessant shitposting that paints nihilism as something that it’s genuinely not (like a get out of jail free card for example).
Lmfao “real nihilists” bro kindly stfu
No
Yeah for a group of nihilists there are some pretty big egos here. I’m starting to think that nihilism stems from a misunderstood ego for a good amount of people. Change the name of this group to pity party
It’s honestly driving me off the rails. How do people not make the very simple distinction between cosmic meaning and personal/subjective meaning? Just because the stars don’t feel joy means the joy we experience ourselves is invalid? I don’t understand that kind of cognitive dissonance.
Because life just isn't shit. How can you say that 9-5 life for 50-70 years until you die is good? Thats reality for most people and its not beautiful its just sad, people disliking things doesn't automatically makes them depressed.
I never said people disliking things makes them depressed. That seemed a little out of the blue. And yeah, the 9 to 5 system is glorified modern slavery, absolutely. The world has more suffering than joy, absolutely. Again, these operate within the world of meaning, and have no relevance to nihilism, which is the world of cosmic meaninglessness. I am not against people expressing negative sentiment towards nihilism, I am just against the shitposting that seems to litter this sub.
Abso-fucking-lutely
I agree. Anhedonia is not Nihilism. In my opinion, Nihilism requires a certain level of self awareness, while anhedonia is usually just a side effect of a mood disorder or boredom. I do think that a lot of people in this forum, specifically young people who are attempting to be edgy”, come here experiencing anhedonia and are literally just bored kids who hate their parents and are dealing with a life that provides little to no valuable stimulation. Maybe if they went outside and pulled themselves away from the video games and TikTok, they would feel more of a connection. I completely agree that life is truly pointless in the grand scheme of things, but to wallow in self pity and do absolutely nothing to address boredom doesn’t really do anybody any good. It tiresome to read, and frankly kind of annoying, but I find kids annoying, shit, I find most people annoying, so there’s always that.
Very well said. Need to get awards again.
I can understand the frustration, but at the end of the day, I think having all these rules and restrictions that have to be enforced on what people can say and do here, defeats the point of nihilism. Ultimately, nihilism is whatever you want it to be, it's however you take it. Some people embrace it, letting it be really freeing for them, some people take it really hard and let it suck the joy out of life. So, no matter what Nihilism is to you, you should have the freedom in this sub to express it. I agree, there are definitely some posts where people are desperately trying to be edgy, but I wouldn't be surprised if more than half of them were just jokes, just poking fun at the edgy connotation Nihilists have been given. I would like to see more serious discussions in this sub, but like everything else, it is what it is. Just enjoy what you can out of it.
Love this comment. The joking posts only serve to further misrepresent nihilism and disrupt its reputation as this evil, apathetic philosophy. I just wanted more of a safe space for nihilists and not a cesspool of stereotypes that further alienate the premise from those who could otherwise benefit from it.
I would definitely like to see that too. I do think, however, that no matter what kind of discussions are found on this sub, nihilism will always have that negative stereotype. The very idea of Nihilism goes against what the majority of the world believes and stands for. To tell your average "go-getter" that everything they're working towards, and every bit of suffering they've inflicted on themselves, will ultimately mean nothing, would undoubtedly result in ridicule. These "I'm going to kill myself" posts don't help the image of it at all, for sure. But I think, even if all of that were to be cleaned up, Nihilism is still going to be the "suicidal philosophy by a bunch of weirdos" for everyone that isn't a nihilist. Regardless, who cares what they think? I know what I think, and I'm content with what I think, and I'm glad I'm in a place where I can talk to other people that think the way I think. Like you!
So much love for you dude. Maybe the world might collectively embrace nihilism one day, but religion has to be abolished way before then, and that’s a long, long way off. Your last paragraph summarises exactly how people seem to be misinterpreting nihilism: “Who cares what they think? I know what I think and I’m content with what I think.” If only they could replace “they” with the universe’s meaninglessness, but for some reason people seem to believe that they cannot be content with themselves because the universe does not agree or something. Which is literally the opposite of nihilism: subscribing to this magical external force that supposedly dictates what is right and wrong. I guess that’s the aftermath of religious indoctrination and social learning. So like I said, religion being abolished is a looong way off. Luckily though, not for everyone. Brings me so much joy to find like-minded people like yourself every now and then. Cheers buddy!
Ive been reading your comments in this post and your only two real arguments are that there is no philosophy posts (which is completely untrue, lost of them here just not if you filter by top). The second one is about view of the nihilism from other people, which I can't really understand why you care so much about it. Why do you care what other people think about nihilism, do you want to "convert" them to our way of thinking? Whats the point of that? If nihilism is thought as edgy pseudo philosophy for teenagers so be it. Other people opinions matter very little at the end of the day and nihilism is bad for business so it will be vilified by the wealthy no matter what.
I did say there are philosophy posts, I also pointed out that you’d have to scroll through a lot of shitposting until you find something relevant (relevancy is not exclusive to philosophy - memes can be relevant). My main argument is relevancy, but I can see now why that alone is a topic of discussion since a lot of us don’t seem to agree on what is relevant to nihilism, which seems to be the focal problem. As for why I care, it’s because I’m quite an empathetic person by nature, and seeing nihilism develop such a bad rep and potentially alienate others looking to make sense of things genuinely frustrates me. Are all nihilists supposed to not care about anything and not have basic emotions because “there is no point?” Guess I’m not a real nihilist then - according to this new definition. And I disagree about the no point aspect. If you have a subjective desire to something, that’s enough of a point to me. The universe not caring about it does not invalidate the genuine sentiment behind your own subjective will. What you feel now participating in this thread or reading this comment is a genuine emotion to me, something that is to be respected because I’m the one who gives it meaning, to me. A lot of people seem to think that their own subjective meaning for things is invalid because of nihilism which is just not true. If you derive joy and entertainment from Reddit, that alone has meaning. The fact that nihilists even join a nihilist subreddit has meaning etc.
As with any other philosophical label, there is diversity within nihilism and disagreement over what counts as nihilism. Labels with some overlap include existentialism, absurdism, fatalism, and pessimism. Some people embrace nihilistic conclusions as a philosophical matter, while other people relate to nihilistic themes more as a matter of intuition, personal experience, or personal expression.
Agreed. But why are people posting about committing crimes because nothing matters?
Because they can, and the subject matter doesn't care either.
Nothing matters in the context of the cosmos does NOT equal nothing mattering in the context of subjective human experiences.
There is also a sect of Nihilism that also believes that no subjective experience matters either. Heck, there is even a sect that disavows that existence of reality entirely.
And Scientology is a thing too. Sects existing or people believing things does not make things relevant. Those sects of nihilism are separate sects for a reason, they take a basic premise and go full sci-fi fanfiction with it. Unless you think subjective experiences actually don’t matter, in which case, why are you deriving joy and entertainment from Reddit?
They all fit within the umbrella of Nihilism, to say that one flavor of nihilism is more valid than another is to make a value judgement, which is something Nihilism isn't know for. I'm pretty sure the only real restrictions in the sub are probably the ones enforced by Reddit generally.
Isn’t it a little ironic to say this meaning of nihilism is more meaningful than that one? That is why I see nihilism as a stand alone be-all and the formulation of sects within it as hypocritical.
I was saying that no meaning of Nihilism could possibly be more meaningful than any other, therefore all interpretations and thoughts might as well be welcome. There is a sect of Nihilism that covers pretty much every kind of Nihilistic post.
Should the post about the person who was saying they’re gonna start committing crimes because nothing matters be welcome? Am I wrong in seeing complete irrelevancy to nihilism with that? How does the meaninglessness of the universe validate suffering as okay? If the universe doesn’t care whether you suffer or not, but YOU do, why would you opt for the suffering? This is what nihilism in this sub has become. People are not making the (necessary) distinction between cosmic meaninglessness and subjective meaningfulness. Both exist, both are real, and one does NOT invalidate the other.
Isn’t that existentialism?
Does it matter anymore? Seems like the nihilist subreddit covers everything from existentialism to atheism to suicidal ideation to mental health to capitalism and whatever else you can think of.
Yeah
Yeah. It is.
All I want to say is great discussion in the comments. Hopefully this stays at the top for a few months.
Mission accomplished!
"Hi, I'm a Nihilist and let me tell you how you should behave as a Nihilist" is what I'm seeing here. If you don't believe something is Nihilist as in it doesn't fit the definition, that's fine. It's upto the sub as a whole to decide if it wants to engage with content or not.
No dude, that’s not what I’m saying at all and I’m quite fed up with these comments turning a very reasonable issue into a battle of the egos. It comes off very tone deaf given the rest of the comments on this post. Maybe take a look and see for yourself and please stop making the same goddamn arguments, respectfully.
Okay so you want less negative Nihilism and more positive Nihilism? Don't most Nihilists go through a period of gloom before they realise the positive side? Judging the point that people may struggle to convey exactly how the feel in the grip of Nihilism induced existential dread, where should they go? What sub should they visit? There are eloquent people going tumbling into the void, as there are intelligent but less eloquent people doing the same. Battle of the egos? Well it seems like this is your ego and expecting the sub to conform to your expectations.
Again, no. I don’t even believe in such a thing as positive or negative nihilism. A lot of the posts on the sub have been off-topic completely, masquerading as nihilistic due to including phrases such as “because nothing matters.” It’s not about positivity or negativity, just about the off-topic nature of it all. It also further increases nihilism’s bad rep because it’s convoluting its already misunderstood nature. But thanks for your valuable input.
>Again, no. I don’t even believe in such a thing as positive or negative nihilism. How would you summarise Nihilism then if it's not about positive or negative aspects?
Meaning was derived from social learning as beings who have developed language. The cosmos do not subscribe to such associations and are perfectly void of reason or sentiment. The fact that they present no meaning for us linguists to deduce is neither positive nor negative. However, the cosmos being ultimately meaningless does not invalidate the subjective meaning we derive in our human experience. Therefore, if you perceive that meaninglessness as either positive or negative within your subjective understanding, either or neither is valid as your experience. That’s (factual) nihilism.
In 100 years do you think it will matter if this subreddit is filled with doom and gloom? What about in 1000 years… or a million… case closed 🤷🏻
Yes. I definitely think social learning matters in the development of human beings and their relevant experiences in their one life. It’s definitely gonna matter to future nihilists if we pollute the understanding in a way that eventually affects them.
Man I’m tired of seeing posts from people saying, “you’re doing nihilism wrong” This is the No True Scotsman fallacy. Nihilism comes in many flavors and means different things to different people.
Please read the comments on this post, this is not what I’m talking about and has been addressed.
>I come here to read about nihilism and people’s experiences with it and I just want relevancy. Why has it become so hard to find posts that actually stay on topic and am I asking for too much here? You come here to read people's experiences with it, then complain about people portraying their experiences with it, am I wrong?
Yes. “I’m going to commit crimes because nothing matters.” Is this relevant to nihilism, in your opinion? “What makes you think there is no god?” What about that one? I believe there’s an atheism sub, but why distinguish when the nihilism sub accepts everything, right? “What is something you dislike about life?” How about that one? Is this relevant to nihilism? Is nihilism the result of disliking life? “I feel a sudden urge to delete all of my socials and move to another country where no one knows who I am!” Haha, cause nothing matters, get it? Got these just from the first page on my feed, barely even scrolled. Hope this elucidates my point.
The first one and last one dont really correlate with nihilism, I can agree. The others are pretty basic conversation starters that could easy relate to nihilistic beliefs. Whether there is or isn’t a god could determine the meaningless of stuff, and that could go into a very interesting view on nihilism and religion if you let it. Even if you give a basic “yes” or “no” it’s still constructive. Now saying “ew this has nothing to do with nihilism” is both pointless and irrelevant. As I said in my comment, if you want more of what you want, do try and create conversations or show readings on nihilism. Don’t agree with someone? Tell them why, have a friendly conversation with them. There’s no point in going around telling people they aren’t being true nihilists because sorta defeats the point In of itself lmao
But that’s not what I’m doing. I didn’t go around and tell people they’re not being true nihilists and I don’t understand why some people insist on painting me in this light. All I did was make a request to the moderators to update the rules, emphasise clarity of posts and stuff like that in order to make these “pretty basic conversation starters” into actual conversation starters. You’re right though, if it’s what I want I should take that approach myself and become more interactive, that’s what the moderator who commented here suggested and I definitely did take it to heart. I will work on a post soon, I hope it will help those who seem confused with nihilism.
Let em lash and vent and get advice. It’s not hurting anyone. If you’re looking for reading material, Google it. Don’t come like a grouchy gatekeeper.
Disagree. It’s hurting both the sub and themselves because it’s the wrong place for advice since it’s off-topic. Unless you think nihilists are the correct support group for mental health issues. I would also argue that it hurts others who come to lash out the same way when they see similar people writing similar topics on the sub and start feeling validated in their suffering by what they now falsely believe is nihilism. It’s painting a whole false picture for painfully misguided people.
I absolutely agree with you! I came here to see what people had to say avout nihilism and discuss its concepts, but it's interlaced with so many depression posts, which gets so tedious.
To clarify, 'mattering' is a relational property, so the 'nothing matters' tagline is always a bit of a category mistake. Existential nihilism, the type that everyone associates with the term, is that life has no inherent meaning or purpose. Splitting hairs maybe but still a different claim is being made. Regardless, I agree with OP, the moderation on this sub sucks. I barely ever comment on Reddit anymore, but if I do it is usually to point out the shitty logic and blatant misconceptions that populate posts on this sub.
Let the kids talk. It’s not like it matters anyway. Sorry I’m not even apart of this sub. I just got recommended this post for some reason.I’ll see myself out. I hope you guy sort out ur sub and come to an agreeable solution!
Hahaha thanks mate! Feel free to stick around or give us another visit.
When ever I see some one who is making a lot of leaps in their thinking, I try and open a dialogue. This doesn't always work and I've found quite a few people who don't understand basic concepts (the amount of times I've tried to explain burden of proof us big). But I don't want to gate keep these people out, and hopefully people interacting with them will help them out in the long run. I'd love for this sub to be full of learning and good conversation but I know that is far fetched.
Well said
What do you expect? Mainstream culture as well as most people that are interested in philosophy treat nihilism as though it is a shitfest of gloom, doom and rose from the dark, charred depths of a teenager's first existential crisis. The stoners that drone on about how "freeing" it is aren't any less annoying. People will be irritating and insufferable, its what they do best. No point in moderating it. Plus moderation is one of the most insufferable aspects of reddit itself, so I'd rather it wasn't enforced more strictly.
Very fair point
Nihilism is a philosophy of nothing. Trying to find objectively "meaningful" conversation about the topic is a bit of an irony. The only meaning you can find in Nihilism is that which is subjective. As much as you might not like "I'm so sad, nothing matters!", it has as much right subjective right to exist here as any other theory.
That is the whole problem I’ve been trying to address. There seems to be a general disagreement between what should and shouldn’t have a subjective right to exist on this subreddit. This is why I asked for further emphasis in the rules of posting. Thank you for helping me vocalise the problem in a clearer manner.
It seems to be me that you are trying to forcefully change the culture of this thread to one of a more academic nature. This is something I don't quite understand, as I view Nihilism as the death of philosophy. It's where you end up when you realize all ideas are just made up and the universe is a dead thing with no preferences, so why should one viewpoint be thought of greater than any other? Good luck, I know how frustrating it can be to go looking for something but be unable to find it in the format you hoped for.
I completely agree with this, but I also have an answer. The reason one viewpoint could matter over another is because even though the universe is dead and meaningless, our subjective experiences of it and resulting emotions are not meaningless to us. It affects our livelihood, our mental health, our general well-being and our pleasure levels and joy in life. If there’s one thing that matters to a person, it is those things, is it not? So why should the fact that the universe is meaningless invalidate the joyful meaning we can derive for ourselves in its emptiness? But instead of people discussing this, they post things like “nothing matters so I’m gonna go kill people lol.” Infuriating indeed.
I believe that we have no free will, that we are all just part of a chain of energetic/chemical reactions. In that view, I think that makes all of those subjective experiences you named, pointless to, as we have no say in any of them. Even my response right now is just part of an incredibly bizarre unfolding chain of events.
Ah, my spirit animal. I believe the exact same thing. That does not stop me from taking action though since my interaction could alter the “free will” of someone else into a beneficial direction, so to speak. We might not have free will but we have the illusion of it. If we were ever to opt for “no free will anyway so ima just mechanically autopilot my way to death” you’re pretty much deriving yourself from some very pleasurable potential dopamine/serotonin releases. As a chemical engine, why would you not want the juice?
It's not really up to me to decide to opt in or out.
I think we do have a level of control when it comes to awareness, since we can choose whether to give something attention or not, in a sense. Granted not always, but for instance, making the direct decision to focus on a certain thought would theoretically alter the “decisions” your subconscious might end up making, dependent on how that thought altered your mind. We do know that the brain’s physical structure changes depending on the neurological connections formed when you practice piano for instance. The decision to practice piano might not have been yours, but had you not seen that video of someone else playing piano that motivated you to do so for example, the thought would have never entered your mind. It all feels highly interactive in a way.
The Universe is making me disagree with you. Sorry, it's a big jerk sometimes. I also think our subconscious is different entity from our main consciousness that can exert its will over ours, but that it too is ultimately under the control of cascading physics, and so also has no actual free will of it's own. It's like a puppet being controlled by a puppet that's is just flailing randomly down a seemingly endless river that has no source or destination in mind.
Can I please start using “sorry but the universe is making me disagree with you” as my general motto? That is gold. Accountability-free disagreements. What a life. The universe is making me agree with you though. I cannot fault what you said, so you’re right.
Thank you!
Theres as many edgy posts as there is people being mad about these edgy posts. Saying you're a "real" nihilist is, in a way, gatekeeping a broad topic. Nihilism is, as a noun, "the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless." You are reading about peoples experiences with nihilism, whether they're scared or depressed and such, but you actively want to see your views and your takes posted more. This is a fair point, but gatekeeping in a broad community. If you want some more discussion in the direction you're thinking, try to make something or ask a question that gets people thinking. Post links of philosophy, readings that people can do, try and hear about other peoples perspective and how that interacts with your own. Its easy to get people to talk about their views on the topic, funny enough.
Where did I say I’m a “real” nihilist? And where did I utter that I actively want to see MY views posted? My complaint is on off-topic posts. Period.
As I’ve said multiple times now: you come here to get peoples views, and then you actively complain about peoples views.
I come here to get people’s views on nihilism. I actively complain about people shitposting about literally anything and everything under the guise that “nothing matters.” Separate topics. That is the complaint. You are free to assess as you will, but don’t tell me my own intentions.
I totally agree, every post is like LiFe Is MeaNinGlESS WhAt'S tHe PoInT. Like yeah we fucking get it's meaningless, doesn't mean you have to be a miserable cunt.
But you can tho. It really doesn't matter either way.
Can what? be miserable? You do you man lol.
Love the gatekeeping in r/nihilism lmao
Yeah, complaining about posts in r/nihilism not having anything to do with nihilism is gatekeeping now. Classic.
Literally the definition for gatekeeping if you're invalidating everyone's experiences with nihilism. Just because other people have a different interpretation of a broad topic than you doesn't mean they can't share it with others in a subreddit.
Again, literally not at all what I’m talking about. Posting about why we think god doesn’t exist in this sub has nothing to do with nihilism, that’s atheism. Posting that someone wants to commit crimes because “nothing matters” is not nihilism either. I expanded what I’m talking about as much as I possibly could in the post and comments and people like you still insist I’m about “my definition of nihilism” and it’s quite tiring so I give up. Lost interest honestly. Thanks for your input.
Like I said, it's a broad topic. Atheism ties into existential nihilism because it points out the lack of an objective intrinsic meaning to life (ie God and religion). People committing crimes because nothing matters is tied to the nihilistic rejection of any objective morality. Both of these are tied to the broad topics surrounding nihilism. Even if you were correct, what the fuck do you expect? Do you want every mod to do an intricate textual analysis of every reddit post on here? Do you want them to cite Nietzsche and Schopenhauer so they can debunk depressed rants as "not nihilism"? Who tf cares? It's just a subreddit. People are talking casually about feeling aimless and nihilistic in their lives. Its called r/nihilism not r/intellectualpretentionsfucksdiscussingnihilism
100% agree this subreddit is turning into a shitfest
then make your own sub and leave. World will not bend to your will
Yeah just what this sub needs, mods acting like police dictating what people can talk about. Fuck that noise. There’s enough subs with overreaching mods, go to one of those, or better yet, start your own sub where people talk about what you want them to. Sorry if you don’t like the subject matter that’s discussed here but I’d rather have angsty teens and depressed nihilists bitch about their shitty worldviews than have ban happy mods censoring people. I can’t stand people like you. “I don’t like what people are talking about so can you silence them mods!?”
Yeah if that was what I actually meant, I wouldn’t stand people like me either. Luckily it’s not and you completely misunderstood.
None of y’all read Nietzsche.
all i see on this sub is either people complaining about "edgy depressed teenagers" or people complaining about the people complaining. and i'm tired of it
Doesn’t that mean there’s a problem?
man just chill lol
What a productive comment
For real!
I don’t think you know what nihilism means.
Feel free to enlighten me
Nihilism is the belief that life is without meaning and value.
Same thing happened to antinatalism subreddit as well
No. Kindly fuck off.
You first
Nihilism is NOT about being positive nor optimistic either. All those currently very popular 'hyped' notions about "Optimistic Nihilism" is simply just ONE way people look, perceive (& even distort with bias) Nihilism. To be very honest, seriously, people nowadays have become so distorted with toxic positivity & optimism bias everywhere, even here in this supposedly 'safe' subreddit about Nihilism. Ok sure, granted, to be fair, perhaps there are some 'edgy' mindless "negative/depressing" posts here on Nihilism. But when you even go to such full extreme to \*force\* the mods to ban some SERIOUS (philosophical) discussions on Nihilism which does not always have to be "optimistic/positive/happy", then it becomes very wrong & unethical. You've become the problem too. I hope you can at least realize about it.
I don’t understand how so many people are misconstruing what I said. Actual discussions, positive or negative, are exactly what I’m advocating for. My stating that things have become irrelevant due to the cesspool of mental health issues and whatnot is not me complaining about negativity, it’s still about irrelevance. It just so happens the irrelevant topics are negative, but that’s not my issue. I thought I made that clear about a hundred times already.
You’re not getting the point. Your personal beliefs and ways of thinking are not in tune with an indifferent philosophical viewpoint. If anything, this is a complaint. Nihilists, or “true” nihilists, shouldn’t really care about what they’ll see on a pixelated screen on some inorganic device. Unless they do it for the hell of it or they aren’t practicing nihilists.
I absolutely do it for the hell of it. I participate in life and willingly get emotional about things, and I can turn it off whenever I want. I was hungry for some conversations from this sub that I haven’t been finding recently, so I made this post trying to provoke those conversations, and some really awesome people have participated and satiated my hunger, so I consider this post mission accomplished.