Notions of order and chaos - Nihilism and Chaos

 

Nihilism and Chaos

 

Nihilism, despite being a seemingly simple, almost anarchical view of life without meaning, actually contains much in terms of complexity and philosophical dialectic—in the sense, of course, that there is no truth in the first place. Turgenev himself, with the novel currently being studied, in fact, first introduced the term nihilism to the public in the late eighteen hundreds.[1] Essentially, nihilism asserts that life, or existence, is without meaning or objective purpose; there are no comprehensible truths, and no essential values upon which to live by. Nihilism rejects the idea of morality outright, as well as all other ‘systems of authority’ and normalcy. Heidegger argued, “What remains unquestioned and forgotten by the world is being; and hence, it is nihilistic.” [2]

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is often associated with nihilism; however, he denies these accusations, claiming that nihilism only leads individuals to discard any hope of meaning in the world. In fact, Nietzsche actually correlated nihilism with Christianity, as the Christian religion—like nihilism—only brings a sense of hopelessness to one’s corporeal existence. In his Will to Power, Nietzsche explains that “a nihilist is a man who judges the world as it is that it ought not to be, and of the world as it ought to be that does not exist.”[3] In other words, nihilists are idealists and pessimists, who view the world through all of it’s faults, and dream of a world that will never actually be; although this definition does not hold true to every philosopher, it does contain an essence of truth: nihilists deny the world they live in, proclaiming a world of materialism and an almost static, unwavering sense of consciousness—that is, if a nihilist believed in such inanities as a ‘conscience’.

Nihilism, then, easily resembles the attitude of the Russian radicals during the Great Revolution. The Revolutionaries had a passionate desire to destroy all meaning, knowledge, and value; in this way, they could forbid power to the Tsar. One could then conclude that the desire to eradicate meaning from existence derives from the instinct to rebel, inherent to all; when we wish to change or mould the society we live in, we become nihilists, for in no other way could we morally allow ourselves to destroy without creating afterwards—this is the essence of nihilism.

For Barazov, nihilism is the “force” of reforms; of change in a society that promotes the devotion to “absurdities… we debate about art, unconscious creativity, parliamentarianism, trial by jury, and the devil knows what else, when the issue is getting enough bread to eat, when we’re stifling under the grossest superstitions… when the very emancipation our government has been fussing about will hardly do any good because our peasants are happy to rob even themselves in order to get drunk at the local tavern.” [4] However, why not recreate once the destruction has occurred?—because, as Barazov would most likely purport, we would simply fall into the same pathetic atrocities again if we were given another form of structure. Chaos truly is the only answer for a world riddled with vile corruption; how could anyone, in Barazov’s world, believe in morality when it is so blatantly irrelevant to life?

Destruction without recreation: this would indefinitely lead to chaos. Consider Anna’s character, which represents the true antithesis to Barazov with her aristocratic tendencies and a highly structured life; when the nihilist himself becomes a part of her existence, she suddenly finds a void in her ritual and circumstance: a fearsome chaotic world menacing to come forth into reality. Of course, chaos is terrifying for those who do not try to understand it; it seems arbitrary and useless; in fact, that is exactly what chaos is—nonetheless, this is the only answer we have.

Would this final, ultimate theme of chaos bring us to become a finally isolated people? True chaos, whence no authorities would be able to emerge their heads from the disordered and riotous depths, would eventually force every human to fend for themselves, and the society would become nonexistent. Truth itself would be a fallacy, and logic the only necessity to survive. Anna seems to fear this idea, whereas Barazov relishes in the bedlam; but with irresolvable dualities throughout our dire existence, there certainly is no other safer, better method to live in this world.

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[1] Wikipedia, (2008). Nihilism.

[2] The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, (2007). Martin Heidegger (1889-1976).

[3] Section 585

[4] p. 54