Nihilism, Nolen Gertz
Nihilism, Nolen Gertz
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Nihilism

Author: Nolen Gertz

Narrator: Shaun Grindell

Unabridged: 4 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 09/10/2019


Synopsis

When someone is labeled a nihilist, it's not usually meant as a compliment. Most of us associate nihilism with destructiveness and violence. Nihilism means, literally, "an ideology of nothing." Is nihilism, then, believing in nothing? Or is it the belief that life is nothing? Or the belief that the beliefs we have amount to nothing? If we can learn to recognize the many varieties of nihilism, Nolen Gertz writes, then we can learn to distinguish what is meaningful from what is meaningless. In this addition to the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Gertz traces the history of nihilism in Western philosophy from Socrates through Hannah Arendt and Jean-Paul Sartre.

Although the term "nihilism" was first used by Friedrich Jacobi to criticize the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, Gertz shows that the concept can illuminate the thinking of Socrates, Descartes, and others. It is Nietzsche, however, who is most associated with nihilism, and Gertz focuses on Nietzsche's thought. Gertz goes on to consider what is not nihilism—pessimism, cynicism, and apathy—and why; he explores theories of nihilism; he considers nihilism as a way of understanding aspects of everyday life; and he reflects on the future of nihilism. We need to understand nihilism not only from an individual perspective, Gertz tells us, but also from a political one.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Tijmen

A refreshing take on nihilism that's insightful at times, but not exactly cutting edge philosophy. Lots of unnecessary name-dropping. It relies mostly on Nietzsche's work, and I just don't like Nietzsche's methodologically sketchy approach of designating anything that's destructive to what he consid......more

More amusing than I've expected. I like its structure - very logical and helps prevent unnecessary repetitions. Some interesting (and not commonly known facts), e.g. about how Nazis "hijacked" Nietzsche. What didn't I like? - in some cases, I had a feeling the author would like to give far more "deeper"......more

Goodreads review by Evan

Buku mengenai nihilisme yang menarik. “Nihilism” merupakan usaha Gertz untuk ‘membersihkan’ pemaknaan nihilisme dari distorsi budaya populer. Pada bab 3 ‘What is (not) Nihilism?’ Gertz memulainya dengan membedakan nihilisme dengan pesimisme, sinisme, serta apatisme. “Pessimists are not nihilists bec......more

Goodreads review by Nils

Disappointing — the book consists of a series of almost perverse inversions of common understandings of nihilism, and is afflicted by a meander “oh-and-another-thing” mode or argumentation that oscillates between tendentious readings of mostly continental philosopher and random examples from America......more