The Values Of Nietzsche's Moral Nihilism

Nietzsche wrote about some moralists and posits that they just accept their cultures’ morality and serve as its shield bearers rather than as rigorous critics. Nietzsche here specifies that his task is not simply to expose the psychological and historical contingencies that make for different moralities, but to question moralities for their objective functional value. According to Nietzsche, that a particular morality comes from an erroneous, mythical tradition does not by itself tell us that, that morality is worthless just because it has traditionally been falsely conceived. Similarly, the psychological ways that we form moral concepts does not invalidate their claims to objective value. Neither does showing the historical and cultural processes

It appears in the verb “annihilate,” meaning to bring to nothing, to destroy completely. Early in the nineteenth century, Friedrich Jacobi used the word to negatively characterize transcendental idealism. It only became popularized, however, after its appearance in Ivan Turgenev's 1862 novel Fathers and Sons where he used “nihilism” to describe the crude scientism espoused by his character Bazarov who preaches a creed of total negation.

Nihilism is the doctrine that denies the validity or value of anything, especially religion or moral principles. In other words, it goes against the existing traditions, and any established authority or norms: social, religious, political and any moral principles. Nihilistic philosophers deny any basis of objective truth thus, any ground of law to checkmate human actions are condemned. For them there is no rational justification for moral principles, and as such, they do not encourage any form of loyalty to norms. Radical nihilism argues for the conviction of the absolute un-tenability of existence when it comes to the highest value one can recognise; plus the realization that we lack the least right to posit “a beyond, or an in-itself” of things that might be divine or morality

While passive nihilism, is a pessimistic acquiescence in the absence of values and the purposelessness of existence, active nihilism on the other hand seeks to destroy that in which it no longer believes. Active nihilism is believed to be the most dangerous and final form of nihilism and it is to this that Nietzsche identified himself with. He wanted to show that this world in which we live is the only one however unstructured, purposeless and valueless it may be. In other words, valuelessness and meaninglessness are products of nihilism, and for Nietzsche moral principles are the foundation for faith in religion, especially that of the Christian faith. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy. While few philosophers would claim to be nihilists, nihilism is most often associated with Friedrich Nietzsche who argued that its corrosive effects would eventually destroy all moral, religious, and metaphysical convictions and precipitate the greatest crisis in human history. Nietzsche also believes that the world has no values since there is nothing in it which might sensibly be supposed to have value. Simply put, nihilism for him has to do with the fact that all the highest values lose all its value. This implies that there is no justification whatsoever for assuming that there is