Nihilism meaning: the idea that nothing has built-in value

Nihilism meaning at its core: what does it deny?

So what does nihilism mean in practice? To define nihilism simply: it is a rejection. A nihilist rejects the idea that something people usually treat as solid, such as moral rules, life's purpose or knowledge itself, has any real grounding. The word grows from the Latin nihil, meaning nothing, which is a helpful memory hook: nihilism says that, at the bottom, there is nothing holding a given belief up.

That is different from simply being sad or lazy. Nihilism is a claim about the world, not a feeling. Someone can be cheerful and still hold nihilist views about, say, morality.

Types of nihilism

Because it always denies something, the nihilism definition changes with what is being denied:

1. Existential nihilism: life has no given purpose or meaning.
2. Moral nihilism: nothing is truly right or wrong; moral claims are not facts.
3. Epistemological nihilism: real knowledge is impossible, or no belief can be justified.
4. Political nihilism: existing social and political structures should be torn down, often without a plan for what replaces them.

Many thinkers who discussed nihilism were trying to answer it rather than promote it. A common response is that, even if meaning is not built into the universe, people can create meaning through their choices and relationships.

Nihilist meaning and definition

The nihilist meaning is simply a person who accepts some form of nihilism. As a noun: "He calls himself a nihilist." The adjective is usually nihilistic: "a nihilistic novel", "a nihilistic sense of humour". In casual speech, a nihilist definition often stretches to anyone who shrugs and says "nothing matters anyway", even if they have never thought about philosophy.

Be careful with labels. Calling someone a nihilist can sound like an accusation, so in serious writing describe the view they actually hold.

Where the word came from

Nihilism comes from Latin nihil, nothing, through German Nihilismus. The German philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi used the term around the end of the 1700s to criticise philosophy that, in his view, left nothing real to believe in. English records the word from 1817, first for a denial of religious or moral principles. In the 1860s a Russian novel made "nihilist" famous for young radicals who rejected tradition and authority, and the word then also named a revolutionary movement in Russia in the decades that followed.

Using the word in sentences

• The film's ending felt nihilistic: the hero fails and nobody learns anything.
• In our philosophy seminar we argued about whether moral nihilism leads to selfishness.
• She jokes about nihilism, but she volunteers at the animal shelter every Sunday.
• Critics described the band's early albums as nihilist noise.
• Is nihilism the end of a conversation about meaning, or the start of one?

Nihilism next to related ideas

Nihilism is a big topic in philosophy, and its sense of drift sometimes overlaps with ennui, a weary boredom. More everyday and abstract terms live in the everyday vocabulary section.