BtZ42 Section 9 (pp 53-60): the price of nihilism

[Monte Davis]

P. 57:

Wikipedia: The term nihilism [Latin *nihil*, nothing] was first used by
Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743–1819). Jacobi used the term to characterize
rationalism and in particular Immanuel Kant's "critical" philosophy... [in
Jacobi's view] all rationalism (philosophy as criticism) reduces to
nihilism—and thus it should be avoided and replaced with a return to some
type of faith and revelation.... With the popularizing of the word nihilism
by Ivan Turgenev, a new Russian political movement called the Nihilist
movement adopted the term. They supposedly called themselves nihilists
because nothing "that then existed found favor in their eyes."

***
Hardly the first time an idea or tendency has been christened by its
opponents; see also the Cynics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynicism_(philosophy)#Origin_of_the_Cynic_name
Jacobi's objection was essentially that philosophy must have *some* firm,
unquestionable ground better than a Cartesian *cogito, ergo sum* -- that
faith or revelation set boundaries we need, while reason can in principle
argue its way into anything (including the belief that reason is just a
screen of rationalization).

Note that in a Google Ngram, use of the capitalized (political) version
peaked in the 1880s and 1890s, overlapping heavily with bomb-throwing
anarchism, while the more general version (not so much philosophy as
attitude) has been booming since -- surprise! -- World War 1.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=nihilism&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2008

***
Jacobi's objection was Anti-Enlightenment 101: that philosophy must have
*some* firm, unquestionable ground better than a Cartesian *cogito, ergo
sum;* that faith or revelation provide foundations/anchors we need, while
reason can argue its way into anything (including the belief that reason is
just a screen of rationalization).

How fair is Pirate's characterization of Roger's "cheap nihilism"? In this
context the latter amounts to a denial of any pattern or meaning beyond
random fluctuation in where the rockets hit. Is nihilism really a "global"
philosophical stance for Roger, or a specific, reactive stance to being
surrounded by people who insist there *is* a pattern or meaning to be found.

 NB that Pirate qualifies it (Roger is "paying" something -- he's not
belittling others' rocket fears from a safe Olympus) and that Roger admits
it but sees no alternative ("It is cheap. All right, but what does he want
then") -- and spins a mock system in which people would be entitled to only
so much nihilism as their circumstances and experience justify.
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