Lovecraft : Not what it says on the tin.

Nihilism, from the Latin nihil, meaning 'nothing' (hurrah for 4 years of high school!), is the philosophy that values are false creations of humanity, and therefore meaningless. While the basis for other philosophies is usually on the assignment and justification of valuations, nihilism holds that any value is intrinsically flawed. As such, it has ramifications in numerous fields of philosophy.

One common example of this is moral nihilism; that is, nihilism applied to ethics. A standard ethical system assigns values to different actions, therby allowing an individual to choose the correct course of action. Because nihilism fundamentally rejects this form of valuation, under a nihilistic ethical system all actions are equally moral. Thus, there is no (philosophical) difference between slaughtering a village and eating a bagel; a nihilist would feel no moral compulsion to choose one over the other. Note that this does not mean the nihilist would prefer homicide over breakfast, but simply that he recognizes no appreciable ethical difference.

Another example is epistemological nihilism. Epistemically (remember, epistemology is the study of knowledge), a nihilist approach is one of absolute doubt. Because there is no meaningful value associated with knowledge being true or false, and no inherently trustworthy source of said knowledge, a nihilist is incapable of seperating which subjects of knowledge are preferable (not that a nihilist would care, of course...).

The most wide-spread (and angsty) form, however, is the dreaded existential nihilism. Under this system, your existence (yes, yours) is entirely meaningless. Life has no intrinsic value. This is actually a fairly common reaction to scientific evidence showing that humanity came into existence purely as the result of physical laws. Thus, in the scope of the universe, your own existence, or even that of the entire human race, is both without purpose and incapable of enacting any actual change.

H.P. Lovecraft, an American author who wished he was British, is noted for developing an entire sub-genre of horror based entirely on this concept. Recognized as one of the most influencial horror writers since Edgar Allan Poe, Lovecraft's tales describe a universe populated by beings so powerful they are not only unthreatened by humankind, but in many cases unaware of its very existence. The universe itself is incomprehensible to mere human minds; those who look beyond the thin veneer of life as we know it are typically so horrified they go irreversibly insane.

To quote his pivotal short story The Call of Cthulhu: "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."

Lovecraft's heroes, of course, are these same scientists, piecing together knowledge and gradually removing the ignorance that protects us from madness. I'd always found this particularly eerie, given my background in the physical sciences.

Still, ultimately nihilism is a self-defeating philosophy, and one of many (alongside solipsism) that are held more as wards against actual understanding than as beliefs in themselves. Simply put, any truely nihilist philosopher is lazy, listless, and closed-minded (Nietzsche is an exception, in that he started with nihilism and built meaningful valuations).

To quote Socrates in Meno:
"I shouldn’t like to take my oath on the whole story, but one thing I am ready to fight for as long as I can, in word and act—that is, that we shall be better men, braver and more active, if we believe it right to look for what we don’t know..."

Next Time: Field Trip to Jail & The Ethics of Imprisonment
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Appended: Know your Great Old Ones!

To those of you who're still confused by the Lovecraft Mythos, here's a quick summary: The gods are really extraterrestrial beings of unimaginable power. So essentially, like gods, but more indifferent. There are two basic tiers, and its worth noting that while Cthulhu is the most well-known (and probably the most influencial on Earth), he (it?) actually occupies the weaker level of diety.

The Great Old Ones - Fairly reasonably-sized gods. These exert influence on Earth, and have at least some stake in the fate of the planet, though naturally none whatsoever in humanity's continued existence. Think Godzilla, if looking at (or even thinking about) Godzilla could land you in a mental hospital with froth coming from your mouth. Note that only the more important ones are listed here; many others exist.

Cthulhu - A being of immense power and squid-facedness, Cthulhu lies trapped in the sunken city of R'lyeh, "dead but dreaming." Despite this, he commands numerous cults throughout the world to do his evil bidding. One day, presumably when the stars are right, the sunken city will rise and Cthulhu will once more awaken to sow terror across the Earth.

Hastur - Originally a benevolent god of shepherds, Hastur is vaguely associated with a certain sigil called the Yellow Sign. He takes the form of a black, shrivelled, flying beast, who siphons out victims' brains with his talon-tipped tentacles. Speaking his name aloud is said to risk summoning him (with inherently disasterous consequences). Cthulhu's half-brother.

Ithaqua - A gigantic humanoid, Ithaqua is active and alive, and prowls the Arctic wastes. Probably one of the least-powerful (but most active) Great Old Ones, Ithaqua is described as the basis for the Yeti myths. Alaskan and Siberia tribes leave him sacrifices in appeasement.

Y'golonac - Appearing as an obese, headless man with mouths in his palms, Y'golonac is the god of depravity. Not just human depravity, but any concievable depravity. He is imprisoned deep in unidentified ruins, behind a wall of bricks.

Of course, many others exist as well. Some other time, I'll list the Outer Gods, who are beyond comprehension even to the Great Old Ones. In the meantime, C'thulhu fhtagn!