nihilism (fwd)

[C. Endicott]

nihilism (NI-uh-liz-um) n.

   origin: from the Latin "nihil", meaning nothing

1. the belief that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and 
   that existence is senseless.

  "It's left us wandering around dazed and depressed, overwhelmed by our 
   problems and oblivious to the solutions within our reach. If we are to
   survive as a civilization, this spiral of nihilism and negativism cannot 
   continue. 
 
 --Arianna Huffington "How the American Media are Betraying 
                       the American Public"

  "Modern nihilism...is an unanticipated consequence of modern science. 
   Science had been so successful in challenging and unmasking very 
   variety of superstition and ungrounded belief that, in the end, 
   it left people with nothing to believe in." 

 --Richard Wolin, "Philosopher of life", in The New Republic* 


In philosophy, nihilism also refers to an extreme form of skepticism that
denies all existence.  In political science and history, nihilism is used
to describe the belief that the destruction of existing socio-political
institutions is necessary for progress.  In psychiatry, nihilism is a
delusion that the world or the self does not exist.