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Wed 25 Oct, 2017 09:46 am
By "type 2" Nihilism, I'm referring to Merriam-Webster's definition #2
"a doctrine or belief that conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any constructive program or possibility"
which, for the sake of this discussion, I'm contrasting sharply with M-W definition #1
"a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless"
What I believe is that existence does (or may) have a point, that individual morals (not to be confused with society's morals) are integral to the development and evolution of lifeforms, and that there is a deeper, unrecognized meaning to the universe that we don't necessarily understand, but human society has taken a wrong turn which seems to be incorrigible, so a perfectly logical and valid course of action would be for human society to be destroyed or dissolved.
An analogy would be a government that is so corrupt that, rather than attempt painstaking reforms, it seems more logical to have a violent revolution that reduces the entire country to zero so that it can be rebuilt (or perhaps not rebuilt).
It is possible to accept this belief on a societal scale while still believing there is a purpose to existence--even if the purpose of existence is to bring existence to zero.
@Valence,
Thank you Val for bringing a 'new' word to an old fella's attn. Pond, where are yo
@Valence,
Concerning human society how does nihilism II differ from misanthropy or antinatalism?