Word: nihilism Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Probably borrowed from French nihilisme, German Nihilismus, or Late Latin nihilismus; the French, German, and Latin words are derived from Latin nihil (“indefinite nothing”), from nihilum (“nothing”), from ne- (prefix negating the principal meaning) + hīlum (“a trifle; not in the least”). The English word is cognate with Italian nichilismo, Spanish nihilismo, Russian нигили́зм (nigilízm), philosophical doctrine grounded on negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life; emptiness; lack of education and cultural refinement. Pronunciation: /ˈnaɪ.(h)ɪ.lɪz.m̩/, /ˈnɪ-/, /ˈniː-/, [-(h)ɨ̞-], /ˈnaɪ.əˌlɪz.m̩/ 1. The view that all endeavours are devoid of objective meaning. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: This classification should have led to the discovery and study of remedies which act specifically upon the various textures and tissues of the body, such as the cellular, serous, mucous, parenchymatous, fibrous, gelatinous, &c., but it did not, except in the most imperfect manner—so imperfect, in fact, that most pathologists, despairing of finding such remedies, at one time sank into all the peurilities^([sic – meaning puerilities]) of the "expectant mode" of the French, or the nihilisms of the German. Example: But there was also about him an indescribable air which no mechanic could have acquired in the practice of his handicraft however dishonestly exercised: [...] the air of moral nihilism common to keepers of gambling hells and disorderly houses; [...] 2. The rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, (inherent or objective) moral principles, legal rules, etc., often due to the view that life is meaningless (sense 1). Labels: uncountable, usually Example: [T]he dire portent of Nihilism, which some persons regard as little more than an extreme protest against absolutism in Government, [...] is an execrable conspiracy against all religion and morality. Example: Seen through all these glasses Russia is judged, or rather misjudged, by the western world; no wonder, therefore, that it is believed to be a barbarous country, governed by tyrants, inhabited by a savage population; a mixture of indolence, ignorance, despotism, and nihilism, without one of the redeeming features of culture or civilization. 3. The rejection of non-proven or non-rationalized assertions in the social and political spheres of society. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: As with the original American historicists, they accept only historical references and deny all extrahistorical references, including those implicit in idealism and positivism. [...] They deny both authoritarian and subjectivistic nihilisms, and they affirm the responsibility of the subject. 4. A delusion that oneself or the world, or parts thereof, have ceased to exist. Labels: uncountable Example: Individuals with schizophrenia often cycle between nihilistic and solipsistic moods—when in the grip of nihilism they appear to have lost experiential contact with their very existence, [...] Example: Melancholia is the most typical and classical presentation of depression with several compelling features such as impoverishment of emotional life and delusions of nihilism or guilt. 5. Alternative letter-case form of Nihilism (“a Russian movement of the 1860s that rejected all authority and promoted the use of violence for political change”). Labels: Russia, alt-of, historical, uncountable Example: The Government took up the word, and used nihilism to stigmatize all revolutionary, and ultra democratic and socialistic tendencies; and we have seen it play its part in the recent investigations into the attempted assassination of the Emperor. 6. A doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life; in particular, the view that nothing in the world actually exists. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: This great metaphysician [John Locke] considered, our ideas were derived from sensation and reflection; and preserved the distinction between these two sources of knowledge with great care; but by a perversion of his theory, his followers reduced them to sensation alone;—which by a necessary gradation leads to materialism, atheism and nihilism. Example: This view may be styled Religious Nihilism. It affirms that Theism, or faith in an Almighty and All-wise Creator, Pantheism, and Atheism, are alike mere guesses in the dark, and that nothing is or can be known of that mysterious Something, which is the origin of the universe. 7. Something that is regarded as meaningless. Labels: countable Example: This mock reasoning proves that those deliberately making use of it are, during the process, insane; inasmuch as they are attempting to reason by means of suppositions, by means of nihilisms, negative quantities. Example: At one fell swoop such persons would away with the idle songs of the poets, away with our heroes in fiction, away too with the examples left us in the lives of great men. For it substantially amounts to this; if they have no influence in moulding thought and directing action, they are in the economy of intellect mere nihilisms, dead forces, and when read or studied can of themselves be the occasion of neither good nor evil.