Book contents
- A History of Nihilism in the Nineteenth Century
- A History of Nihilism in the Nineteenth Century
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Jean Paul’s Vision of Nihilism and Plea for the Doctrine of Immortality
- 2 Klingemann and the Absurdity of Nothingness in The Nightwatches
- 3 Nihilism in English Romanticism
- 4 Schopenhauer’s Theory of Human Suffering and Lack of Meaning
- 5 Büchner’s Account of the Reign of Terror as a Mirror of Human Existence
- 6 Poul Martin Møller’s Criticism of Hegelianism and the Danish Discussion of Nihilism
- 7 Kierkegaard and the Indefinability and Inexplicability of Death
- 8 Turgenev’s Portrait of a Nihilist
- 9 Nietzsche’s Vision of the Past and the Future of Nihilism
- 10 The Importance of Nihilism in the Nineteenth Century
- Selected Bibliography on Nihilism
- Name Index
- Subject Index
9 - Nietzsche’s Vision of the Past and the Future of Nihilism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2023
- A History of Nihilism in the Nineteenth Century
- A History of Nihilism in the Nineteenth Century
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Jean Paul’s Vision of Nihilism and Plea for the Doctrine of Immortality
- 2 Klingemann and the Absurdity of Nothingness in The Nightwatches
- 3 Nihilism in English Romanticism
- 4 Schopenhauer’s Theory of Human Suffering and Lack of Meaning
- 5 Büchner’s Account of the Reign of Terror as a Mirror of Human Existence
- 6 Poul Martin Møller’s Criticism of Hegelianism and the Danish Discussion of Nihilism
- 7 Kierkegaard and the Indefinability and Inexplicability of Death
- 8 Turgenev’s Portrait of a Nihilist
- 9 Nietzsche’s Vision of the Past and the Future of Nihilism
- 10 The Importance of Nihilism in the Nineteenth Century
- Selected Bibliography on Nihilism
- Name Index
- Subject Index
Summary
Chapter 9 gives a reading of Nietzsche’s account of nihilism based on his unfinished work known as The Will to Power. Given the death of God and the collapse of traditional values, people are debilitated by a sense of hopelessness and meaninglessness. Traditional values no longer seem meaningful. Nietzsche outlines three key cosmological values that one is obliged to abandon once one has reached the stage of nihilism: (1) the idea that there is any purpose or goal in the universe or in human existence; (2) the notion that the universe constitutes some kind of unity or coherent system; and (3) the very notion of truth itself. Nietzsche includes, among the group of metaphysical prejudices or false beliefs, the law of contradiction itself, which is often considered to be the very foundation of any kind of rational thought. These metaphysical prejudices constitute the preconditions for science itself. Nietzsche raises the question of the possibility of creating a new set of values on the strength of one’s own authority. But he believes that people in his age have not yet emancipated themselves from nihilism to the extent that they can do this.
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- A History of Nihilism in the Nineteenth CenturyConfrontations with Nothingness, pp. 259 - 279Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023