Is Existentialism Nihilistic Why or Why Not - Essay Example

It is always linked with extreme skepticism and pessimism that condemns existence. Existential nihilism is based on the belief that the world is meaningless and has no purpose in that all existence in it such as pain or feelings are senseless. Therefore, existential nihilists such as Camus and Nietzsche regards feelings and thoughts as merely influence of prior causes (McBride 89). In a more elaborate sense, free will is denied. Further, they argue that existentialism is nihilistic because they believe that on this world, misery and suffering has dominated over pleasure while happiness has been elusive thus leaving mankind with the option of suicide as the only course to take.

Existentialism can be said to be nihilism because it presents human life as ultimately meaningless and trivial. Friedrich Nietzsche argued that forceful effects will eventually destroy all religious, metaphysical beliefs, morals and accelerate the greatest crisis in history of human beings. Other existentialism nihilists such as Camus and Soren Kierkegaard argued that individuals had the responsibility of giving meaning to their lives despite of many struggles and distractions such as alienation, boredom, despair and absurdity (Cox 27).

According to Nietzsche, there is no objective structure or order in the universe or world except that the order human beings give it. In addition, he argued that all values have no meaning and that human rationality is impotent. In this manner, he meant that every human belief is not true because there is no true or real world. Therefore, he proposes that in order for the world to exist, nihilism should be destroyed. Nietzsche argues that existential nihilism is absolute in that further scrutiny shows that highest values eventually devalues themselves.

Inevitably, existential nihilism will present all loved and cherished convictions and truth as valueless. Therefore, such lack or collapse of relevance meaning and value of life will be the most destructive power or force in history, comprising a total assault on truth and nothing less than the crisis of humanity. Nietzsche analysis was real and accurate in that studies conducted on some cultures depicts some patterns of nihilism which shows some features of collapsing civilizations (McBride 57).

Existential nihilism has the convictions that the life has no meaning in this sense; it argues that the world has no purpose by stating that existence in itself such as suffering, feeling and all actions is ultimately empty and senseless. For instance, it is argued that existential nihilism is a form or another and that has part of western realm from the beginning. It states that the life of deaths or mortal is so mean a thing or form as to be virtually un-life. For example, embodies similar type of extreme pessimism linked with existential nihilism.

In ancient times, such pessimism may have reached its peak with Hegesis due to the fact that miseries outnumber pleasures, happiness is not possible to attain, and therefore, the philosopher argues that the best thing to do is suicide. In his argument, Jean-Paul Sartre ponders that existence precedes essence whereby he rules out any platform for establishing an essential or significant self or human nature. When illusion is abandoned, life is recognized to us as nothing thus leading to nothing else but existential horror and emotional anguish.

In addition, existential nihil