[madnak]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Nihilism is compassionate by its nature. Especially when it's at its most brutal.

[/ QUOTE ]
If nihilism = rejection of all morals, how is it compassionate? (Or do you have a better definition?)

[/ QUOTE ]

Nihilism is so much more than simply the rejection of all morals. You might call it a rejection of all values. But those kinds of definitions won't get you far.

I mentioned The Gay Science earlier - why do you think Nietzsche referred to nihilism that way?

I can give you some basic positions, but there's a lot of nuance to them that I can't express. So if you want to pursue me, that's fine, but I may appear to contradict myself as I clarify my positions.

Nihilism, like Taoism, leads to many apparent contradictions - but if you try to formally identify them, they dissolve. They aren't true contradictions, only language that seems contradictory when taken out of context. Kind of like the Bible, eh? I think it's important to make note of that, because there's an inherent reason and sometimes the "artistic" kinds of expression that Nietzsche, for example, was so fond of can give the impression of fluff and emotion rather than rigor and discipline. That's not an accurate impression.

So, compassion - systems of value inherently place certain people or things over other people or things. The sense of equality is compassionate in a way - the idea that the smallest insect is as important as the biggest god.

Then there's the question - which compassion is more genuine? The compassion that's drawn out through rules about how we should act and think, or the compassion that emerges without any kind of reason or justification? I'd say the latter.

Also I think compassion can be defined in a negative way as well as a positive way - specifically compassion can be the simple absence of ill-will. You probably wouldn't agree with that perspective, but a nihilist has little reason to hate.

And in a sense to follow your own nature and your own will is the only way to show compassion to yourself, isn't it?

Nihilism at its best gives meaning to everything - at its worst it takes meaning away from everything. The part where it gets tricky is that for the nihilist, there is no "better" and "worse."