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1. METAPHYSICS (reality)
1.1 Belief about God
Does God exist? "God's only excuse is that he does not exist" -- U. of British Columbia Campus newspaper editorial |
1.2 Belief about the world
Is there an overall plan or order behind nature? |
1.3 Belief about humanity
Are human beings different from the rest of nature? Where did we come from, & where are we going? "I was born wandering between two worlds, one dead and the other powerlessto be born, and have made in a curious way the worst of both." --Aldous Huxley "Birth is the first and direst of all disasters." --Ambrose Bierce
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2. AXIOLOGY [values & ethics]
2.1 Beliefs about purpose
What is the overall purpose or meaning of humanity? "Men are born, they labour and sweat and struggle; they squabble and scold and fight; those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. The release comes at last and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence ... a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever." -- Mark Twain "That which does not kill me only serves to make me suffer." -- Eric Marcus, Pessimisms What is the main purpose or highest good for each individual? |
2.2 Belief about ethics
How does one decide right & wrong? "Manslaughter is man's laughter." International Anthem, Nihilist Newspaper for the Living |
3. EPISTEMOLOGY [knowledge]
Is it possible for humans to know truth? What are legitimate sources of truth? |
HYBRIDS: doubt, pessimism, antinomianism, complacency, escapism
Nihimism Quotes
"It's not that God is cruel; it's just that God is an under-achiever" Woody Allen
"God's only excuse is that he does not exist." Univ. of British Columbia campus newspaper
He's a real nowhere man, Sitting in his nowhere land, Thinking all his nowhere plans for nobody. Doesn't have a point a view, Knows not where he's going to--Isn't he a bit like you & me?
"Nowhere Man," The Beatles
DIABETES: It was a good play. All it needed was an ending.
HEPATITIS: But what did it mean?
DIABETES: Nothing . . . just nothing . . .
HEPATITIS: What?
DIABETES: Meaningless. It's empty.
HEPATITIS: The ending.
DIABETES: Of course. What are we discussing? We're discussing the ending.
HEPATITIS: We're always discussing the ending.
DIABETES: Because it is hopeless.
HEPATITIS: I admit it's unsatisfying.
DIABETES: Unsatisfying? It's not even believable. The trick is to start at the ending when you write a play. Get a good, strong ending, and then write backwards.
HEPATITIS: I've tried that. I got a play with no beginning. Woody Allen, Without Feathers
Woody [Allen] quit college after flunking his first year. He claimed, "I took all the abstract philosophy courses in college, like Truth and Beauty, and Advanced Truth and Beauty, and Intermediate Truth. I was thrown out for cheating on my metaphysicals final. I looked within the soul of the boy next to me." Woody Allen
In Hannah and Her Sisters, Woody Allen goes to the library and reads in Tolstoy, "The only absolute knowledge attainable by man is that life is meaningless." He then comments, "Millions of books and none of them knows any more about the big questions of life than I do."
The secret of happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible. Atheist Bertrand Russell, on his 92nd birthday
I will tell you what life is: it is an unpleasant interruption of nothingness. Atheist Clarence Darrow
We are, to put it mildly, in a mess, and there is a strong chance we shall have exterminated ourselves by the end of the century. Our only consolation will have to be that, as a species, we have had an exciting term of office. Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape
Nature has let us down, God seems to have left the receiver off the hook, and time is running out. Arthur Koestler, The Ghost in the Machine
You are orphans in an age of no tomorrows. Joan Baez, "The Hitchhiker's Song"
The human brain is the most overrated organ in the body. Woody Allen, Manhattan
Eternal nothingness is OK if you're dressed for it. Woody Allen
Further Resources |
[+]http://www.nodogs.org/nihilism.html
naturalism | marxism | nihilism | existentialism
