Nihilism last summer

Last summer my Dad and conversed about Nihilism. I was looking for a connection between anarchism and socialism. (I think anarchism and socialism have a lot more in common than you might think. I'm an anarchist/mutualist: mutual non-hierarchal cooperation is my definition of the anarchism I believe in.) In my search, I came across this paper about Anarchism and Nihilism (and later Anarchism vs Socialism) in the context of Russian Bolsheviks. It was a fascinating read, and I sent it onto my dad to get his perspective on nihilism. (A topic we had never explicitly discussed, we stick to stoics, zen and existentialism.) His reply is more relevant than ever (8/8/2016)

I think Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche describe passive nihilism well.  I have always thought of nihilism as too cynical; open to corruption, almost welcoming it.  I may be antiquated, but I believe in the rule of law, but that is not the belief today when we see the rule of law shunned.  Examples everyday of rationalizing why a law doesn't apply, when it does.  Nihilism exists and will finally convert to radical nihilism.  We live in an age when the oligarchs divert the citizens attention from inner conflict by distracting us with  unrighteous wars, calling them, cynically, "good war".  Existentialism is replaced with deconstruction.  We fight to permit multiple moralities while at the same time discriminating those who don't follow the main.  The system will finally crash and revert to despotism when the economy fails, soon.  Even science will not be able to save us. A new religion will rise as the critic, a d the process will begin again with new oligarchs, the strong.  For a while the oligarchs will hold off the fall with the millions of new police, but eventually and quickly, militias will form that will take them out and a new medieval era could emerge.

Wow, Dad was sure ahead of his time last summer. I know what we're going to talk about on Friday.

Comments

[John]

That's an interesting conversation for sure. Another good read if you want to look into nihilism: https://mindfray.com/debate/what-being-lucky-means-nihilistic-universe/