Affirmative Nihilism in The Digital Age
Many years ago, German philosopher Nietzsche wrote, " God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?" In the face of a world devoid of meaning, or a world where god has died, Nietzsche asks us what we intend to do next. Well, fear no more, because modern capitalism has the answer: purchase! We live in a meaningless world - there is no inherent value. This is not to say that we cannot create value on an individual level, though. Yes, god has died, but that does not mean that all hope died with him. Nietzsche would contend that, paradoxically, value comes from the lack thereof - or, in other words, we can create meaning as individuals despite the fact that there is no inherent meaning in the world. However, conflict arises when we attempt to impose a universal meaning onto others. For example, the crusades, which were lead by Christians who believed that their vision of ...