Author: M. Farahi Tojegi
The Evolution of Nihilism and Its Opposition to Religious Faith (Part 6)
The Stages of the Emergence of Nihilism
The historical existence of the West begins with cosmos-centric nihilism and continues along the path of expansion and development of nihilism until it reaches today’s postmodern nihilism. The inner reality of the West is nihilistic, and throughout the various periods and realms of its history, different forms of it have appeared.
The history of the West begins in ancient Greece (8th century) with the Greek-Roman cosmos-centric nihilism, and in later eras continues in the form of the theo-centric nihilism of the Western Middle Ages, and after that, in the form of humanistic nihilism belonging to the modern West. From the late nineteenth century, with the entry of Western history into the phase of postmodernity, self-destructive postmodern nihilism appears and gradually becomes dominant. However, nihilism in Western history begins with cosmos-centric nihilism, which we will discuss below.
Cosmos-Centric Nihilism
Ancient Greece is the cradle of the emergence of the West, and the history of the West begins with Greece. The Greek people can be considered the “mother people” for Westerners.
The first form of nihilism also appeared in ancient Greece, which is the cosmos-centric nihilism.
The recorded and identifiable history of Greece goes back to the third and second millennia BCE (the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations), but ancient Greece, from the eighth century BCE onward, is the cradle and center for the emergence and actualization of the historical existence of the West, and the history of the West begins in ancient Greece in this way. The inner reality of the West is nihilism, and the first manifestation of the West in the form of a historical world also carried a nihilistic character.
The literature, thought, and daily conduct of the people in ancient Greece are the channels and grounds through which cosmos-centric nihilism becomes realized and reveals itself. Thought in ancient Greece, especially in its earliest form, is completely intertwined with poetic literature, such that the poetic literature of Homer and Hesiod and the worldview implied in it can be considered the first form of Greek-Roman cosmos-centric nihilistic thought. Nihilistic metaphysics, as the governing soul of the West, has appeared in various forms throughout the course of development and expansion of the historical existence of the West. Cosmos-centric nihilistic metaphysics, from a theoretical perspective, appeared in the Greek West in the following main forms:
A: The metaphysical nihilistic thought of Homer and Hesiod.
B: The metaphysical nihilistic naturalistic thought, which has an acquisitive (conceptual) character and prepares the ground for the emergence of philosophy in Greece. The nihilistic metaphysical naturalistic thought appeared around the late seventh century BCE and especially expanded and dominated during the sixth century BCE. The Greek naturalistic thinkers formed a long chain that begins with Thales and ends with Democritus, except for the nihilistic sophistic thought that begins in the late sixth century and ultimately becomes dissolved into acquisitive philosophical thought.
C: The acquisitive philosophical cosmos-centric thought, which reaches its perfection in the fourth century BCE.
We also observe other manifestations of cosmos-centric nihilism in the immoral and obscene poems of Sappho (the Greek poet of the seventh century BCE) and Bilitis, and in other periods, in the Greek tragedies. In fact, the tragedies of playwrights such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides are expressions and manifestations of a particular stage in the expansion of cosmos-centric nihilism at the end of the classical Greek era and the movement toward Hellenistic Greekness, just as the poetic works of Homer and Hesiod were manifestations of the emergence of cosmos-centric nihilism (though in the early phase of Greek Western nihilism).
In reality, in the ancient Western world, cosmos-centric nihilism develops and deepens from the beginning of Greek history until the end of ancient Western civilization, and from the first century CE onward, the period of the crisis of ancient Western civilization and the cosmos-centric nihilism governing it gradually begins. The cosmos-centric nihilistic metaphysics, in its role as the structuring form and governing soul of ancient Western civilization, by giving primacy to the cosmos, makes cosmos-centrism (world-centeredness or universe-centeredness) a veil for forgetting divine guardianship, neglecting the covenant of trust, denying it, and giving primacy to the transgressor and the guardianship of transgressor.
Cosmos-centric nihilism of the ancient West grants authenticity to a form of the authority of falsehood; a form of ṭāghūt-centrism in which cosmos-centrism becomes the primary veil over the truth of divine authority. In reality, in the ancient West, nihilism manifested, took shape, and expanded through cosmo-centrism.
The cosmo-centrism of the ancient West was a pagan form of ṭāghūt-centrism, a Zeus-centric idolatrous worldview in which cosmo-centrism became a veil over the truth of tawḥīd. In the Greco-Roman West, the picture of “the world” (the cosmos) as depicted in the cosmo-centric worldview of Homer and Hesiod, and later, with variations, in the views of pre-philosophical natural-metaphysicians, and then in the continuation of cosmos-centric nihilistic thought in the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and others; led to neglecting divine authority, divine presence, and sacred guidance, and further deepened and intensified that neglect. The expansion of cosmos-centric nihilism continued throughout the eras of Hellenism and ancient Rome.
The roots and even the earliest primordial form of cosmos-centric nihilism can be seen in the Homeric-Hesiodic worldview and in its polytheism intertwined with certain obsolete mythological elements. Terence Irwin, in explaining ancient Greek thought, emphasizes its anti-religious aspect, writing:
“Ancient philosophy, in its various stages, arises in opposition to religious outlooks and develops independently of them… The Greeks possessed no sacred text such as the Bible or the Qur’an. They had only two long epic poems attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. These two works were not considered authoritative, sacred texts immune to criticism or accompanied by canonical commentaries, nor did they form the doctrinal foundation of any formal religious system. Many Greeks derived their primary and influential understanding of the gods and the relationship between gods and humans from Homer’s works… Thus, it is not surprising that later philosophers regularly quote Homer and make allusions to his writings.” [1]
The Homeric worldview, although influenced by certain mythological features and traces, is in essence non-religious. Its moral foundations, its definition of virtue, and the lifestyle it promotes stand in fundamental opposition to religious ideals, ethics, conduct, and ways of life. In the Homeric approach to the world and to humanity, one can observe an element of attempting to explain the cosmos-centric order in a structured and somewhat rational manner—an approach that later appeared in the metaphysical thought of the naturalistic philosophers, and afterward in Greek philosophy. [2]
In reality, it seems that all the components present in the Homeric worldview—such as world-centeredness, a secular orientation based on the pursuit of fame and, at times, personal gain, as well as a polytheistic and sometimes anthropomorphic portrayal of the gods—are, in essence, expressions of a naturalistic mindset.
Of course, throughout the development and expansion of cosmos-centric nihilism in its various stages and eras, there are differences among its manifestations; however, these differences do not negate their essential unity under the broader category of cosmos-centric nihilism.
To be continued…
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References:
- Orwin, Thinking in Antiquity, p. 22.
- , p. 32.
