Nihilism, which is also called the zero point, means a complete denial of any religion or philosophy that persists in the world. On the contrary, existentialism is an answer to nihilism; it represents a freedom of will in finding motives of oneself and its meaning in life, which can vary from person to person. The aim of this essay is to draw a fair comparison between nihilism and existentialism.
Central Assumptions
Existentialism has two basic types as it relies on other worldviews; atheistic existentialism is a scrounger on naturalism and theistic existentialism scrounges on theism. The development of existentialism was originally to fill in the gaps that naturalism left blank and led people to nihilism (Sire 118). The view of existentialism thought revolves mainly around the existence of mankind and their meaning in life; this philosophy explores areas of free human will, different life choices, the struggle against the differences in human nature and irrationality. On the contrary, nihilism promotes the belief that there is no rationale in life or its meaning, and that it is pointless to even look for one because matter and material do not exist.
Similarities and Differences
The above discussed philosophical worldviews differ in many ways, existentialism is a belief that the meaning of life can be created by the believers, within an intrinsic world of their own. Whereas nihilism is the complete rejection of the belief in the intrinsic meaning of the universe, furthermore nihilists believe that no good from the universe can ever be derived and that it is not even worth trying.
Both beliefs contradict at their very basic grounds, that is, nihilism is a worldview philosophy that is devoid of all the objective moral truths and their meanings, on the contrary existentialism's philosophy states that there is no god and no structure of the universe, and hence there are no morals and principals that are eternal. Nihilists are said to be drawn into the dark with meaningless and purposelessness of life, whereas existentialists create their own purpose in life, and believe that their life is a product of their own decisions, and they choose their paths individually (Sire 131).
Nihilism blindfolds its followers from looking into the nature and its beauty, furthermore discourages them to find answers to the questions that arise in their minds, on the other hand, existentialism encourages its followers to seek answers to everything. Existentialism gives freedom to its followers to look and explore with a unique mindset of their own, whereas nihilism restricts the believers from searching.
Nihilism was developed from naturalism, and existentialism answers the vague beliefs of nihilism. In fact, it is stated that nihilism is the next step to atheist existentialism, which is a type of existentialism (Sire 125). Both philosophical views do not have anything common despite the fact that these both exist in the world on parallel sides, leaving no similarities to be stated.
Conclusion
To conclude, both philosophical views completely differ in their school of thought from each other, leaving no beliefs in common. Nihilism views the world with a foggy brain, completely discouraging it to discover, and believes that nothing exists of enough value which is worth looking for. On the contrary, existentialism encourages the believers to discover the world from their individual mind and point of view, further making clear that the world exists only as they see it.
Works Cited
James, W. Sire, “The Universe Next Door." Ronald H. Nash, The Gospel and The Greeks (1997).
