Top products from r/nihilism

We found 24 product mentions on r/nihilism. We ranked the 25 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top comments that mention products on r/nihilism:

u/SandboxOfThoughts · 3 pointsr/nihilism

My problem with /u/diversity_is_racism and his philosophy is that it is barely recognizable as nihilism. It simply makes too many morally substantial claims. He might not do this intentionally, but having read his blog from time to time, he certainly borders on it all the time. Might is not right; inferiority is not wrong; they simply are. There may be an objectively descriptive component to might and inferiority and their effects, but ultimately whether or not you end up calling these non-morally good or bad will depend on the subjective evaluation of each individual. The kind of society which he desires is just unlikely to match what most of us would want.

Stevens' position (or /u/diversity_is_racism) is that we can adopt nihilism as a tool to make a world more suitable to our individual liking. I agree with this. But the problem is that his re-evaluation of our values hardly seems suitable with a world most of us would be happy to inhabit. For instance, he defends elitism and inequality. Yet far more sophisticated moral nihilists (and actual academic philosophers) like Richard Garner, Russell Blackford, Joel Marks and Ian Hinckfuss have more or less argued that it is belief in morality, and not nihilism, that tends to lead to this kind of society. Indeed, Ian Hinckfuss has even written a short book on how morality ends up defending elitism, inequality and authoritarianism, which ultimately leads to lower desire-satisfaction and less happiness for most of us. To me, I hardly understand why the rest of us would hope to be among the elite in Stevens' desired society instead of trying to make life better for everyone; the chances of indirectly being better off ourselves are greater by striving for the latter.

Instead of reading Stevens' book, I would recommend reading Hinckfuss book The Moral Society: Its Structure and Effects. It is free and can be read or downloaded here.

I also recommend buying Richard Garner's book Beyond Morality. It is the best and most comprehensive book on amorality thus far.

u/FistOfNietzsche · 1 pointr/nihilism

Aww thanks. I definitely encounter people who have more formal training and I'm just blown away by their vocabulary and some of the concepts they present. I like to try to simplify difficult concepts into things that are more easily digested.

Philosophers are not known for being accessible in their writing. There's a ton of people out there like me who try to make philosophy more accessible.

I've listened to podcasts that delve into singular ideas. I find these particularly enlightening. I listened to Ayn Rand audiobooks (lol). I've bought used college textbooks for next to nothing, because once teachers stop using that edition nobody wants them. I've read 3 different people who analyzed Nietzsche's work because he's so unapproachable in writing style. I really love Nietzsche because he would mirror my own thoughts and sometimes take me to the next level and sometimes I feel I'd be at the next level of his thoughts.

I wish I remembered all the good podcast/audio stuff to recommend for ya. For more accessible books, Bernard Reginster's "The Affirmation of Life" was a really good analysis of Nietzsche. It's good because he would essentially take one concept Nietzsche presented and just really hammer it out in a more logical form before moving onto the next. Moral philosophy is most fascinating to me. I highly recommend Michael Sandel's Justice for a really great overview of positions with great examples and things to think about.

u/req16 · 3 pointsr/nihilism

I would recommend reading the book The Denial of Death. It will help you understand your mind, it goes through child psychology as well as existential philosophy. The things you feel are pretty natural once you have seen through the illusion society helped you construct as a child.

Turn your passive nihilism into active nihilism. Create things you want, even if you don't know the everlasting point or meaning in what you're creating, it'll have some short term point and meaning to you.

I have never met a happy passive nihilist.

u/dragonwarriormonster · 2 pointsr/nihilism

If you're actually interested in ideas on the topic (and getting your mind fucking blown), I highly suggest "Rationalized Epistemology: Taking Solipsism Seriously" by Albert Johnstone.

It's a dense read but he has a good sense of humour, and is very thorough :)

u/seth106 · 2 pointsr/nihilism

Some good books about Zen, if you're interested in learning more:

Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality Great book, written by a modern Zen 'master.' Colloquial, not translated and thus easy for us westerners to understand.

Not Always So, Shunryu Suzuki

Moon In A Dewdrop, Dogen This guy is the real shit. Lived hundreds of years ago. You can go as deep as you want into this guy's writings, many levels of meaning (or none?). More metaphorical/figurative than the others, very poetic.

When/if you read this stuff, don't worry about understanding everything sentence. It's easy to get caught in the trap of reading and re-reading sentences and paragraphs to try to understand, but in doing so you miss out on the flow/stream of consciousness of the works. Just read it through, eventually the ideas will start to become clear.

u/scithion · 0 pointsr/nihilism

Moral judgments are usually distinguished by their binary and normative characteristics, so "good" does not necessarily indicate a moral judgment, as "good" does not necessarily indicate a mandate. A good (in a non-moral sense!) test of whether the word "good" is being used in a moral sense is whether it is being parameterized by a condition of interest. If there is no parameterizing interest, and there is no implied objective (like the two times I've marked my own usages of the word "good" in this comment), then it is most likely a general claim and a normative, that is, a moral expression; otherwise, it's still a judgment, but not necessarily a moral judgment. Your reasoning implies that nonmoral judgments do not exist.

The Wiki article on Value Theory has a good (in a non-moral sense!) run up to the necessity of nonmoral judgments and "goods." Bernard Williams' classic Introduction to Ethics serves as both a fair introduction to much of Ethics in general, and as a perspective well-steeped in moral nihilism itself.

u/Doc_Bleach · 2 pointsr/nihilism

Surprised nobody's mentioned the work of Thomas Ligotti yet. While not exclusively centred around Nihilism, many of his writings (especially this) showcase a range of very interesting and informative nihilist themes and subjects.

u/PrecariousLee · 2 pointsr/nihilism

That is based on a minority interpretation of quantum mechanics. Here is an excellent book which explains quantum without succumbing to metaphysical weirdness.
https://www.amazon.com/Comprehensible-Cosmos-Where-Laws-Physics/dp/1591024242

u/Weastside · 4 pointsr/nihilism

I've found Brett Steven's Nihilism: A Philosophy Based In Nothingness And Eternity to be an interesting and thorough entry-level read that deals more with contemporary society in the west.

u/whatabear · 1 pointr/nihilism

A History of the Ancient Near East by Van De Mieroop. The Bible has a context.

u/xtraspecialsnoflake · 1 pointr/nihilism

I don't know if Ernest Becker ever called himself an existential nihilist, but The Denial of Death is widely regarded as a book full of existential nihilist themes.

u/LiftingUP · 2 pointsr/nihilism

Church of the latter day dude
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudeism
A belief system based on Tao with modern slang and personification
A whole book on the philosophy of the movie
https://www.amazon.ca/Big-Lebowski-Philosophy-Keeping-Abiding/dp/1118074564

u/the4everclear · 2 pointsr/nihilism

First book in the Destroyermen series: Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson.

I love the setting and characters. Unfortunately the beginning of the first book drags a bit but I get a real kick out of alternate universes and stuck it out. I was not disappointed and recently finished the 8th in the series last month.

u/RovingBlackSite · 3 pointsr/nihilism

> Not random for a Star Wars fan!

Gotcha. Pardon the intrusion. I'm used to fighting trolls.

How about "being a nihilist means always talking about nihilism"?

u/jeriahbowser · 1 pointr/nihilism

thanks for the thoughtful reply.

"It seems like you're transitioning away from logical thinking because logic has failed you." Correct.

"Did you finally run up against nihilism, realize the futility of making those arguments, and decide to simply follow the plan nature gave you?" thats one way to lok at it. I have spent the past decade as a wilderness guide, and have found meaning and happiness for myself in engaging with wildness. I have also discovered that putting very sick and unhappy humans in a wilderness context with a few other humans is incredibly healing and meaningful for them as well, and I am simply interested in why that is so. I am not saying that this is the case for everyone or that everyone should do likewise, I am just exploring my own experiences with wildness by using various philosophical methods and approaches to explore this dynamic.

"Because of this, no one is wrong in that visceral, evil, disgusting way we tend to cast things. " I totally agree. While I will spend my life fighting against destructive ideas and the people who carry them out, I never delude myself that I am right and they are wrong. As a therapist (and as someone who had a really fucked up childhood), I am intimately familiar with the conditions that create what one might characterize as "evil actions." These people are simply passing on what they've been taught, they are playing out their trauma in the world around them. Why did I chose to take my trauma and turn it towards resisting civilization while others use it to reinforce civilization? I have no idea, I just know what I love and gives me meaning. Obviously, a cop does his job because it gives him meaning, as well. It gives me meaning to resist the cop and everything he stands for, i see no need for morality here.

"I think your views here are coming from the idea that what humans do is somehow different from nature." Not exactly. I understand civilization to be the biotic community (Life) experimenting with self-consciousness. Every manifestation of life on this planet can be seen as an outgrowth or experiment that is taking lace within the larger body of Life. I experience this self-consciousness to be a destructive and anti-Life adaptation, and I am consciously choosing to oppose it, out of my awareness of and relationship to the rest of the biotic community. If one was trying to create a moral framework out of my project, they could feasibly make civilization/domestication the Bad and wildness/chaos as the Good, but thats really not how I look at it and I try very hard to break-up this reductionist narrative in my essays.

"There's no escaping nature. No matter what you do, you're a wild animal." I totally agree, and reading some of my other essays would give you some context for this. I dont think that humans have separated themselves from nature at all... if I thought that, there would be no base for my rewilding project. Rewilding is predicated on the fact that we are wild animals who have been domesticated, which explains why we do the things that we do , and why we feel the way that we feel.

"I don't think you were right in saying social movements stem from thinking in abstract, objective terms. The people who join a social movement are the ones who have been wronged." I would say that social movements tap into a very real sense of injustice and then co-opt that feeling into fueling a movement which has nothing to do with their initial sense. When someone exploits, coerces, or uses violence on me, instead of immediately confronting them or the situation, I am encouraged to think about structures and ideas, which are valid, but they have nothing to do with my actual situation. Another way of saying this is that "racism" doesn't exist, but individual acts of racialized aggression do exist. I am attempting to de-reify these concepts which Leftism has erected, is order to return agency to oppresed people.

"the pacifism of MLK and the other activists in the 60's was actually very calculated. They wanted to put the brutality of their oppressors on display." yes, I adress this at length in the actual book, but this essay was a critique of the book. It sounds like you might actualy apreciate the book, you can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Resistance-Violence-Nonviolence-State/dp/0991313623/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1452381042&sr=8-2&keywords=jeriah

"I think by understanding people for what they are you can learn to manipulate the world more effectively - and this is the niche humans have filled." I completely agree, I just dont feel like participating in it anymore. I find more meaning in authenticity and relationship.