The Psychological Defect in Nihilists
I didn’t say, ‘the psychological defect in nihilism,’ I said, ‘the psychological defect in nihilists.’
A good many of these people embrace nihilism because it allows them to rail against structures of order they don’t like, of course, this is performatively contradictory, but they don’t comprehend this and probably never will.
There’s a personality type, I’ve met it many times, that takes a sadistic pleasure in assaulting people with nihilism. These people are often brutal and lacking in empathy, even criminal. You see, nihilism is perfectly suited to anti-social personalities because it serves as a justification for the predatory and exploitative, self-absorbed lives these people want to live. These people aren't looking to understand the nature of reality, they're looking for an ideology to justify their anti-social thought and behavior.
Nihilism itself doesn't hold. It's not that it's a lie. Sure, reality is nihilistic, but humans live in societies!
Now, the conclusion of this premise, isn't what these kind of nihilists want, you see, they want the best of both worlds: a denial of the value of the social, while at the same time living off its vital capital.
Here's the conclusion that they have to accept about themselves if they want to be consistent nihilists: that they are a danger to society and that society, would in fact, be rational to reject them. Society, on the logic of nihilism itself, is allowed to do this! It has the existential right to make this kind of value for itself!
Refuting the Nihilist by Taking Him at His Word:
Where nihilism is true it negates itself against the form it seeks to overcome.
Nihilism essentially denies value, one can quibble all they want, this negation is part of its anatomy.
Nihilism is easily and responsibly overcome by taking it at its word. Where it breaks down and denies value (rationally deconstructs it) one merely has to apply this logic to the nihilist premise itself.
Case and point: if nihilism is true, one should basically just ignore nihilists and go on with their meaning process. In other words, even if nihilism is true, one is justified in treating it as though it is false; one is rationally free, not only to ignore it, but also to deny the value of the nihilist and his premises. This is itself justified by the logic of nihilism.
This valid inversion robs the nihilist of his desired social authority and value as a nihilist (performative contradictions and desires he doesn’t consciously perceive). One can just exempt the value of nihilism and the nihilist, something nihilism presupposes in the act of declaring itself, based on the nihilist’s own logic.
In order to invalidate this approach, the nihilist would have to invalidate his nihilism.
The plunge of the spear comes precisely at the point, where the one who comprehends the nihilistic thesis, consistently negates the value of nihilism and the nihilist. This is something the haughty nihilist never saw coming, but he can’t deny this existential right based on his own logic.
Thus society saith to the nihilist, “we reject you, thou art a dangerous impediment to our desired order!”
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