Hello! I am writing a character who has existential nihilism, and it is quite hard to write them. Do you have any notes on how to?
Writing Notes: Existential Nihilism
Nihilism - a continental philosophy (a philosophical ideal that originated in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries) that posits that everything is meaningless.
While there are multiple positions and variations on nihilism, they all work around this premise of pervasive pointlessness and no purpose to life.
The word “nihilism” comes from the Latin word “nihil,” which means “the absence of anything” or “nothing.”
The current version of the term nihilism comes from the German word “nihilismus,” which dates back to the 18th century.
This form of nihilism upholds the position that life has no meaning.
Everyone everywhere, at every point, has no value to the universe.
It overlaps with the branch of philosophy called existentialism.
French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre wrote about existential nihilism.
Although there is more than one form of nihilism, all of them discuss the human condition and its existence. Here are a few underlying principles of nihilism:
Existence is useless. A nihilist believes there is no purpose to having values or beliefs because everything in existence is unfounded.
There is no truth. Everything is unfounded and useless, including the truth, so there are no reasons to uphold moral principles for your own sake or the sake of anyone else.
Everything is meaningless. Active nihilism says that since there is nothing and nothing we do matters, all things are therefore meaningless, including the meaning of life.
As its name implies (from Latin nihil, ‘nothing’), philosophical nihilism is a philosophy of:
denial of some or all aspects of thought or life.
Existential nihilism negates the meaning of human life, judging it to be:
Karen L. Carr defines existential nihilism as “the feeling of emptiness and pointlessness that follows from the judgment, ‘Life has no meaning.’”
This understanding of nihilism has become so prevalent that Gertz, in his recent book on the subject, barely discusses it in any other sense.
Although he recognizes nihilism's complexity and diversity, all definitions, in his analysis, ultimately revolve around the absence of meaning: “Nihilism is not merely the denial that life is inherently meaningful, as nihilism can instead be seen as a particular way of responding to the anxiety caused by the discovery of life's inherent meaninglessness.”
The predominance of existential nihilism over all other types of nihilism has been attested to by numerous modern commentators.
Donald A. Crosby attributes its primacy to its widespread use, its ability to subsume other forms, such as moral, epistemological, and cosmic nihilism, and its broad relevance to life in general rather than to a specific discipline.
Thus, he concludes that “existential nihilism is the most basic and inclusive, and therefore the most important, form of nihilism.”
Carr likewise recognizes existential nihilism as “probably the most commonplace sense of the word,” noting its significance in modern literature (citing Dostoevsky and Camus) and observing that Nietzsche was “preoccupied with this form,” although it might be more accurate to say he invented it.
Existential nihilism can be considered not just the heir to, but also the fulfillment of Nietzsche's infamous prophecy: “What I relate is the history of the next two centuries. I describe what is coming, what is inevitable: the rise of nihilism.”
The "Straw Nihilist" Trope
This trope mostly applies to a negative portrayal of existential nihilism.
Also known as the Straw Pessimist.
An extreme version of The Cynic and a specific type of The Philosopher who delivers Despair Speeches and Breaks People by Talking about Life, The Universe, and Everything (or at least how meaningless it is to fight for any of them).
Often Chewing the Scenery about how the hero/audience lives on an Insignificant Little Blue Planet and morality never existed in the first place.
Often Above Good and Evil, due to the Straw Nihilist's Armor Piercing Questions about "What Is Evil?".
The basis for the Straw Nihilist is usually extreme scientific empirical materialism:
We're all nothing but matter and energy and eventually the universe is going to die as if we never existed, so what's the point in trying to hope and fantasize in a world full of suffering and destruction where morality is dictated by force?
Your consciousness is merely an electrochemical reaction inside a dying chemical reactor called the brain which, out of animalistic instincts to protect itself from pain, creates the illusion of meaning and significance in a reality that has none.
Good, evil, morality, and thought are nothing but illusions, with no absolute standard in the universe by which to prove their absolute existence as immutable physical laws?
Everything Everywhere All at Once: Jobu Tupaki is one of these, having been overwhelmed by experiencing of all of her alternate universe selves at once. She took away from this that everything is arbitrary and nothing matters, and she is seemingly jumping from universe to universe, causing chaos and bloodshed for the fun of it. Really, she's just scared and hurt from her experience, and is seeking a version of Evelyn that will either give her an alternate viewpoint or join her in suicide. The climax of the film is Evelyn and Waymond convincing her that, sure, everything is arbitrary and nothing matters, but we can't let that stop us from loving each other and living our lives.
The "Satan" sequence in The Adventures of Mark Twain (adapted from Twain's novella The Mysterious Stranger) is one of the most frightening and disturbing examples, where an "angel" with a White Mask of Doom for a face tells Tom Sawyer and his friends that their lives are as meaningless as those of the civilization of clay figurines he created and destroyed on a whim. [Satan: Life itself is only a vision, a dream. Nothing exists, save empty space and you. And you… are but a thought.]
In Fight Club, Tyler Durden likes to use a lot of nihilist-sounding rhetoric. [Tyler Durden: Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else.]
Fyodor Dostoevsky loved this type of character; in fact, Dostoevsky was a major influence on Nietzsche himself, and the Nietzschean Übermensch has strong similarities to Raskolnikov. His famous novella Notes from Underground features a protagonist who rants against the Nihilists, the Straw Nihilists of the time, yet fits the trope pretty well himself.
The Iliad: Achilles predates Nietzsche by millennia, but he resembles this form of Straw Nihilist. He gets an absolutely epic rant about how life and the heroic code are meaningless, and they're all going to die and be forgotten anyway. He goes so far as to wish everyone but himself and Patroclus dead in the hope that then, their glory might actually endure. It's incredibly bitter, incredibly powerful, and is this trope all over.
Sources: 1 2 3 4 ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs
Hi, here are some references and a literary trope related to existential nihilism. You can also find more examples in the sources linked. Hope this helps with your writing!
