Author: M. Farahi Tojegi
The Evolution of Nihilism and Its Opposition to Religious Faith (Part 9)
Modern Western Nihilism
The modern Western world is a world dominated by humanism, and modern Western nihilism is therefore a humanistic nihilism. The dominant “name” governing the modern world is the ego-driven self (the commanding self), and humanistic nihilistic metaphysics, in the position of the directing soul, steers and governs the modern world. In the modern world, the human being attains primacy as a self-grounding, ego-centered subject and becomes the central pillar of all affairs. Humanistic nihilistic metaphysics is the very essence that is called modernity. It is modernity that, as an essence and as the governing force of the modern West, provides it with energy and vital power and administers the modern world.
The core of modernity is humanism. Humanism is an expression of the primacy of the commanding self. It is the central and essential face of modernity, while modernity itself is the guiding essence and life-giving energy of the historical existence of the West. Through humanism, the commanding self gains primacy and becomes the main pillar of both the world and humanity.
Humanistic nihilism, in the course of the development of the modern world, has appeared in three principal forms:
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Renaissance modern nihilism;
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Value-negating nihilism of the so-called Enlightenment era;
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Postmodern nihilism.
Renaissance Modern Nihilism
The modern West begins with the Renaissance. Approximately, the Renaissance in the modern world may be dated from around 1320–1330 CE to 1525 CE. The Renaissance is the dawn of the modern West, and the first appearance of modernity, in the form of the historical existence of the modern world, took place in and through the Renaissance. Humanistic nihilism emerged with the Renaissance and subsequently expanded, assuming other forms. Renaissance nihilism is the first form of modern nihilism. In the Renaissance, humanistic nihilism is marked primarily by a critical and negative character.
In fact, modern nihilism, at its initial stage of appearance, manifests itself as an approach critical of the values and the theocentric outlook of the Middle Ages. In theocentric nihilism, under the influence of certain Greek—mainly Aristotelian—ethical teachings and other moral factors, ethical norms had emerged that condemned usury and endless, greedy accumulation of wealth. The moral teachings promoted by the Catholic Church were unacceptable to the humanists. One of the main features of Renaissance nihilism is precisely this critical stance toward medieval theocentrism.
Renaissance nihilism promotes excessive hedonistic desire, moral laxity, and relativism intertwined with skepticism—elements rooted in the negative and critical dimension of Renaissance nihilism. Modern nihilism cast aside some of the pseudo-religious appearances and coverings of theocentric nihilism and openly encouraged, in various forms, a will to power centered on profit-seeking and pleasure.
In humanistic nihilism, the human being is realized as a profit-seeking and pleasure-driven economic animal. Modern humanistic profit-and-pleasure seeking is fundamentally different from—and even opposed to—legitimate and acceptable benefit and enjoyment within the religious worldview. Humanistic nihilism is based on the manifestation, realization, and objectification of the modern, anthropocentric will to power that is profit-oriented and pleasure-seeking. Renaissance nihilism is the first manifestation of modern humanistic nihilism. While it shares an essential unity with other forms of modern nihilism (the so-called Enlightenment nihilism and postmodern nihilism), it also differs from them in ways that allow us to distinguish these three forms within a single historical process of development.
The spirit of the modern world is characterized by profit-seeking, self-interest, and capital accumulation, and is grounded in greed, avarice, and excessive desire. In general, the characteristics of Renaissance nihilism can be summarized as follows:
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Renaissance nihilism is the first historical manifestation of modern humanistic nihilism.
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In Renaissance nihilism, a negative dimension predominates, revolving around the negation of values and various aspects of theocentric nihilism.
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Renaissance nihilism displays an explicit hostility toward ethics, an overt hedonism, and an unrestrained worldliness, often intertwined with relativism. At the same time, in certain forms and expressions, Renaissance hedonism and worldliness reveal elements of futility and deep despair.
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The neglect, denial, and rebellion against divine authority in Renaissance nihilism, in some cases, resemble atheism—something that had not appeared so clearly in theocentric nihilism.
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Humanistic nihilism has deeper roots in Jewish nihilism than in theocentric nihilism. The fundamental philosophical teachings of Renaissance nihilism can be observed in the ideas of thinkers such as Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino, Nicholas of Cusa, Kabbalistic thought, and the humanistic concept of the human being among Renaissance thinkers, among many other examples. Modern nihilism represents a compounded form of forgetfulness and negligence regarding divine authority, whose initial form appeared in the Renaissance.
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Renaissance nihilism, in accordance with the nature of modern nihilism, possesses a secular-humanistic character. In fact, the entire history of the West, by virtue of its nihilistic essence, bears a secular character; however, the secularism of modern nihilism is specifically humanistic secularism. Humanistic secularism differs from cosmocentric and theocentric forms of secularism, though there is no scope here to elaborate on these differences. What must be emphasized is that Renaissance nihilism represents the first manifestation of modern secular-humanistic nihilism.
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Renaissance nihilism lacks strong and prominent affirmative dimensions across various domains and reveals itself mainly through the negation of theocentric nihilism and its values and manifestations. This does not mean denying the affirmative emergence of the humanistic spirit during and after the Renaissance; rather, it emphasizes that in Renaissance nihilism, humanism and other traits mostly appear through a negative approach that rejects theocentrism. At this stage, modern nihilism has not yet achieved a coherent, organized, and institutionalized identity. The dominance of this negative dimension renders Renaissance nihilism anxious and chaotic in character.
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In Renaissance nihilism, the void created by the denial of the values and identity features of Theo centrism, together with the weakness of positive affirmations, led to the spread of a painful sense of emptiness and meaninglessness—though this differs from the ambiguity, absurdity, and sense of meaninglessness characteristic of postmodern nihilism.
