(March 10, 2015 at 10:41 am)Cato Wrote: The problem you typically have in this discussion is someone either conflating the two or insisting that ethical nihilism necessarily follows from existential nihilism.
This is the big point. Atheism, for many people, I imagine, implies that there is no external source of meaning. (See, e.g., Camus for discussions of inventing meaning in the face of meaninglessness.) For instance, I would describe myself as an existential nihilist.
But the more important thing, as Cato hints at, is what does not follow from such a position. Existential nihilism does not necessitate a rejection of morals or morality or ethics. It does not necessitate anarchism, or hedonism, or stoicism, or any other -ism. It does not necessitate sadness or fear (far from it). Existential nihilism, if we call it "a positive belief that life has no extrinsic meaning" (for instance, no meaning given to it by god or immortality), still leaves one with every single option except one for how to live your life.
How will we know, when the morning comes, we are still human? - 2D
Don't worry, my friend. If this be the end, then so shall it be.
Don't worry, my friend. If this be the end, then so shall it be.