Nihilism Essays

  • Examples Of Nihilism In Beowulf

    956 Words  | 4 Pages

    Grendel as a Philosophical Text Nihilism is the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless. Existentialism is a philosophical theory in which each individual person has their own free will . These two theories are shown throughout the book Grendel, by the main character Grendel, whether it is existentialism brought on by his mother or nihilism brought on by the dragon. In the beginning of the book Grendel expresses some existential views on life

  • Nietzsche's Response To Nihilism

    271 Words  | 2 Pages

    005.1 “Nihilism now appears, not because the sorrows of existence are greater than they were formerly, but because, in a general way, people have grown suspicious of the meaning which might be given to evil and even to existence. One interpretation has been overthrown: but since it was insured to be the interpretation, it seems as though there were no meaning in existence at all, as though everything were in vain.” [FNWP12] Commentary: To Nietzsche, the Nihilism appears in his time in a consequence

  • Nihilism In Holden Caulfield

    2595 Words  | 11 Pages

    behind all of Meursault’s struggles and problems in his mental world and interferes with his physical world as well, causing him to think that the world is irrational. Holden’s attitude toward the world is particularly similar to Meursault’s because nihilism and absurdism are quite similar. Both believe that the world is irrational and out to get them. The only difference between the two is that Meursault discovers that even though he believes that the world manipulated him and demanded to kill the

  • Passive Nihilism Research Paper

    321 Words  | 2 Pages

    dimension of nihilism and introduce how individuals utilize means to avert nihilism. Nihilism has beliefs that life is meaningless and has no intrinsic meaning or values. However, to find one’s real motive of life are increasing among individuals in today’s world as they find ways of averting nihilism which doesn’t involve believing in the supernatural. There are two different forms of nihilism and they are passive and active. The passive nihilist is the individual whom when confronted with nihilism sees

  • Nihilism In Beowulf's Grendel Is Good

    719 Words  | 3 Pages

    Grendel is Good Nihilism is perhaps the most important philosophy presented in Grendel. This idea is paramount because it informs the reader that there is no good or evil, just people with different agendas. Grendel may be a demon, but he’s a victim of the world. His communication barrier distanced him not only from his mother, but from the humanity he was fascinated with. His loneliness and false belief in nihilism drove him to become the very monster humans thought him to be. Grendel truly wanted

  • Personal Narrative Essay On Nihilism

    619 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nihilism is, at its core, the belief that humanity is insignificant and life has no purpose. While I have nothing against nihilists, I see the philosophy as flawed. If humans were insignificant, how could we affect each other in such powerful ways? The year is 2007, it’s June. In a month, The Simpsons Movie would come out and prove The Simpsons quality. I lived with my grandmother, whom I called Nana, in a two-story suburban home. This time in my life was enjoyable. My Nana would spoil me, making

  • Hamlet Nihilism In Hamlet

    829 Words  | 4 Pages

    and believing that life is meaningless, this is Nihilism. In Hamlet, there are three different kinds of nihilism that are shown; passive, active and ubermensch. Passive nihilism is when there is belief that there is no going further, its the end. Passive nihilism can be distinguished by rejection, death/suicide, and defeat. Active nihilism is the beginning or starting point, the creation of whole new values. Someone who is presenting active nihilism would be wanting to get rid of anything meaningless

  • Flaws In Flannery O Connor's Good Country People

    1087 Words  | 5 Pages

    ongoing issue in her time through that flaw. In O’Connor’s story, “Good Country People,” the protagonist’s physical and spiritual flaws represent weaknesses in a certain movement that swept up the early-mid 20th Century: the movement of Nihilism. She invalidates Nihilism through Joy’s (who changed her name to Hulga) three physical imperfections and at her “moment of grace” in which she loses her artificial leg. Hulga has a weak heart, artificial leg, and slightly defective eyesight. While they are physical

  • How Did Nietzche Influence Western Civilization

    932 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nietzche, Nihilism and Its Impact/Influence on Western Civilization Jocelyn Disselkoen XYZ University April 12, 2017 Background Friedrich Nietzche, born in 1844 and died in 1900, was a German classical scholar, philosopher, and critique of culture, becoming one of the most-influential of all modern thinkers. Throughout his active years of career, Nietzche tried to unmask the motives behind traditional western religion, morality, and philosophy that widely affected generations of philosophers

  • And Of Clay We Are Created Analysis

    1394 Words  | 6 Pages

    Azucena and Nihilism: Because This Story isn 't Depressing Enough "I felt how in that instant both were saved from despair, how they were freed from the clay, how they rose above the vultures and helicopters, how together they flew above the vast swamp of corruption and laments. How, finally, they were able to accept death." (Isabel Allende: And of Clay We Are Created) And of Clay we Are Created is a depressing tale of a girl 's inevitable death. But what is often missed after the first reading

  • Existentialism In Peter Weir's 'The Truman Show'

    1227 Words  | 5 Pages

    Peter Weir’s The Truman Show (1998) is about Truman Burbank, the unwitting star of a live television show that is broadcast to a global audience twenty four hours a day since his birth. What he believes to be his hometown of Seahaven is in fact a giant television studio filled with hidden cameras, designed to record his life. All the people around him, including his family and friends, are in fact actors. Every aspect of his life is controlled and written from behind the scenes by the show’s producer

  • Catcher In The Rye And Franny Character Analysis

    1249 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey are two stories written by the author JD Salinger. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye suffers from depression within the reason of not being able to conform to the society around him. Over his four day escapade in New York City, the reader learns that Holden's depression is exacerbated by his unhappiness with society. Franny and Zooey's protagonist is named Franny, and she is similar to Holden in The Catcher in the Rye. Franny had

  • Ethical Nihilism

    1648 Words  | 7 Pages

    whatever she can to protect her friend. The problems the three of these theories hold is no longer relevant in moral nihilism. While each person may have individual biases that may affect how they act, those biases don’t dictate whether the person acts ethically because there is no ethical truth. In the same situation as Mary, a moral nihilist would do whatever the felt like

  • Why Philosophical Analysis Matters

    1575 Words  | 7 Pages

    Why Philosophical Analysis Matters? 1. Better comprehension and communication There are a vast amount of words and each of them may have a different explanation and it is determined by the person and in what way he or she is using it. Culture, location, and nationality may be some of the factors for the different meaning of the words. Some other factors could include age and sense of humour. This is one reason why philosophical analysis matters. Thru philosophical analysis, people would be able to

  • Natural Born Killer Symbolism Analysis

    861 Words  | 4 Pages

    There is a combination of colour and black and white images which feature rapidly throughout the film (Hersey, 2002). The colour images which represent a perfectly normal and happier environment rapidly move to black and white, which is usually associated to threating events, highlighting the bleakness of the expected outcome of the scene (lburgess3, 2013 and Natural Born Killers, 1994). There is animalistic reference with the rattle snake symbolising poison and death and the wolf symbolising the

  • The Last Man Nietzsche Essay

    580 Words  | 3 Pages

    As these numbers indicate a low society that is in need of help thanks to the influence of Nietzschean thought. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German philosopher, cultural critic, poet, and Latin and Greek scholar whose work has shook the foundations of Christianity and traditional morality by way of the proposal of the Übermensch, the last man, eternal recurrence, and the will to power. First, the Übermensch, a German word translated variously as, “Overman,” “Superman, “ or “Super-human”. In

  • Definition Essay On A Good Life

    1083 Words  | 5 Pages

    Have you ever dreamed to live well? Or Did you know someone who has lived a good life? If so, how can you define a good life? According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, the good life can be defined as “a life marked by a high standard of Living. The good life can be defined as a way that someone plans to live virtuously by having a great education, enough money, and helping others. In other words, the good life means to me when life looks like a blessing than a burden. This essay aims to provide

  • Romantic Era In The Romantic Age

    1431 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Romantic Era has produced ideas and texts that contribute to the society that is seen today. Examples of these texts include Thoreau's “Walden” and my Learner Choice novel, Red Rising. The Romantic Era ties into Freedom & Selfhood and is important to the development of today’s society and the future ahead. It allowed people to begin to look at the world through a different lens, a lens that showed them to embrace freedom and to find yourself. Henry David Thoreau uses imagery in his descriptions

  • Analysis Of Robert Plack's An Echo Sonnet

    704 Words  | 3 Pages

    Death is the ultimate unknown, will it bring sorrow or a feeling of fulfillment? This quandary of humanity is explored thoroughly in the poem “An Echo Sonnet” by Robert Plack. It details a speaker conflicted about his interest to continue living, since both options present a mystery in what they will bring to him. This internal dilemma is constructed through multiple literary devices that function to connect emotions of despair to the poem’s focus.. Specifically, the poem’s _________, ________,

  • Theme Of Love In Othello And Aphra Behn's Oroonoko

    1686 Words  | 7 Pages

    Although Shakespeare’s Othello and Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko had two divergent plots, yet both share the same themes of love, honor and trust; which was specifically portrayed by the main characters Othello and Oroonoko. Who also share indistinguishable qualities. Othello is an example of how Shakespeare masterfully manipulates love as a tragic theme, or cause of misery and sadness, to reveal his characters' vulnerabilities. At the same time, in Oroonoko, love is a theme that allows love triangles to