Is a nihilist a cynic or a desperate person?

Nihilism as a philosophical concept postulates the following ideas: there is no morality, which is called real; Nothing clearly indicates the existence of the supreme creator of all things; Existence has no truth, there are no right and wrong actions, objectively their value is the same. As one might guess, a nihilist is a disillusioned person in the world. Nihilism is the most sarcastic concept, hiding under the guise of cynicism the bitterness of disappointment in everything that exists and the awareness of the futility of being.

Western European nihilism

This term was most widely spread by nihilists of the 19th century, since it was during this period that the nihilistic movement acquired a special dimension both in Russia and in the West. The concept of "nihilism" was first introduced by FG Jacobi, a German philosopher. The nihilist, the brightest in the history of philosophy, is, undoubtedly, Friedrich Nietzsche, who believes that the true world (as it should be in the opinion of pro-Christian thinkers) does not exist, that this is nothing more than an illusion, a fiction. O. Spengler owns the idea of the decline of European culture, the destruction of the old forms of consciousness. Another famous nihilist is S. Kierkegaard, who believes that the Christian religion undergoes a crisis, which is the reason for the spread of nihilistic views.

Nihilism in Russia of the 19th century

From the second half of the 19th century, a movement began to grow in Russia, denying the established foundations of the social society. Raznochintsy-sixties preached atheism and materialism and ridiculed religious ideology. The greatest popularity of the term "nihilism" was due to all the famous novel by Turgenev IS. "Fathers and children" and the nihilist Bazarov described in it . Common people's moods fully corresponded to the ideas of nihilism, which served to spread this term among the masses.

Psychological point of view

For those who are little acquainted with psychology and such notion as psychological defense, it becomes obvious that nihilism is just a form of such protection. In fact, a nihilist is a person who is desperate to find the meaning and cause of his being in the world. The surrounding reality does not correspond to the person's internal ideas about what a true world should be, and this contradiction is reflected in the process of denial. So, nihilism and nihilists are analyzed from the point of view of deep psychology. A person is torn between two tendencies - the desire for freedom and the need for belonging to a group. The stronger the desire for freedom, the more alone the individual feels in his path. In the work of E. Fromm, "Escape from Freedom," the characteristics of the defense mechanism are described when a person inadequately perceives this freedom, namely, the desire to destroy the world (even through denial of it) and the desire to destroy himself thereby, rejecting the meaning of his existence. Supporters of the bodily approach in psychology note the external characteristics of the nihilist: an ironic grin, defiant behavior, ironic remarks. These are the defensive reactions fixed in the past, which have remained in the features of the person.

Thus, nihilism is a person's own response to what is happening in the world, a defensive reaction in response to the objectionable manifestations of the surrounding reality.