I can certainly identify some 'slightlys' in my life. They are noticeable to those who know me in my personal life.
I don't believe words are devoid of semantic meaning, but their referents will lack moral or 'ultimate' meaning (in that they are reducible to the absurdity lying beneath reality).
For example, my subjective preference for X can be explained (as far as we can tell) by brain states, explained in turn by such things as evolutionary biology, chemistry and physics, which in turn are explained by the nature of the universe, which seems to be a brute fact, which is an absurdity (brute facts have no reason for being). In that chain of explanations (which terminates in meaninglessness) there is no objective value or morality or freewill.
None of this strikes me as controversial, or an uncommon belief (amongst physicalists and athiests, whether lay or academic), and is quite banal. As the IEP notes, it could be said that nihilism is quite pervasive and trivial in the 21st c in that many live as nihilistic hedonists without much fanfare or issue.
Again, you seem to be somewhat doggedly holding onto a rather extreme form of nihilism as the only nihilism, which believes that nothing whatsoever has any meaning whatsoever. You seem emotionally animated in your criticise of this form (windmill?) of nihilism in terms of it not producing the consequent behaviour you expect from it, and don't really seem to care that not everyone would expect the same resulting behaviour, nor care that you apply an inconsistent standard to other worldviews. Which strikes me as somewhat odd. But you do you, I guess.
When I describe myself as a nihilist I mean only that I hold to a certain set of statements (outlined prior). This assent has changed my behaviours and opinions on some things, but made no huge differences. I wouldn't expect it to. You may feel this is not real nihilism. That's up to you, but in the absence of a better term I will use nihilism regardless.
I don't believe words are devoid of semantic meaning, but their referents will lack moral or 'ultimate' meaning (in that they are reducible to the absurdity lying beneath reality).
For example, my subjective preference for X can be explained (as far as we can tell) by brain states, explained in turn by such things as evolutionary biology, chemistry and physics, which in turn are explained by the nature of the universe, which seems to be a brute fact, which is an absurdity (brute facts have no reason for being). In that chain of explanations (which terminates in meaninglessness) there is no objective value or morality or freewill.
None of this strikes me as controversial, or an uncommon belief (amongst physicalists and athiests, whether lay or academic), and is quite banal. As the IEP notes, it could be said that nihilism is quite pervasive and trivial in the 21st c in that many live as nihilistic hedonists without much fanfare or issue.
Again, you seem to be somewhat doggedly holding onto a rather extreme form of nihilism as the only nihilism, which believes that nothing whatsoever has any meaning whatsoever. You seem emotionally animated in your criticise of this form (windmill?) of nihilism in terms of it not producing the consequent behaviour you expect from it, and don't really seem to care that not everyone would expect the same resulting behaviour, nor care that you apply an inconsistent standard to other worldviews. Which strikes me as somewhat odd. But you do you, I guess.
When I describe myself as a nihilist I mean only that I hold to a certain set of statements (outlined prior). This assent has changed my behaviours and opinions on some things, but made no huge differences. I wouldn't expect it to. You may feel this is not real nihilism. That's up to you, but in the absence of a better term I will use nihilism regardless.
