by Chris Alexion, Copyright January 12, 2007, all rights reserved. 366 views
Lately I've been harping on Solomon's cynical critique of secularism in Ecclesiastes, along with parallels in lit, philosophy, and rock and roll. Now I find out that my pal James Eglinton has been writing about the logical results of atheism over on his blog. James is really barking up the same tree as I am, and he uses an important term: nihilism. Nihilism is basically the philosophy consistent enough to do what most atheists and secularists cannot: embrace meaninglessness and nothingness. (Latin buffs will see the word for "nothing" in the name.)
I don't have time to go into it here, but while most atheists offer some justification for moral values and thus attempt to stave off nihilsm, I'd argue that these attempts fail. (See James' blog for the outline of how these arguments might proceed; also, Gordon Clark's Thales to Dewey is a very thorough treatment.) To live "under the sun" is to lose all meaning. Like Linkin Park, we can try so hard, and get so far, but in the end, it doesn't even matter. (And unfortunately for Jay-Z, man's return to the earth leaves dirt on much more than his shoulder.)
But we can't talk about nihilism without mentioning G. K. Chesterton, who wrote the book on it. Literally. The book is called The Man Who Was Thursday, and it's a literary whirlwind of philosophy, thriller, and farce. GKC is out to show how nihilism is more deadly than most heresy, and he does this while telling a great story. James' post made me think of one quote in particular:
"I don't want the universe broken up just yet," drawled the Marquis. "I want to do a lot of beastly things before I die. I thought of one yesterday in bed."
"No, if the only end of the thing is nothing," said Dr. Bull with his sphinx-like smile, "it hardly seems worth doing."
The old Professor was staring at the ceiling with dull eyes. "Every man knows in his heart," he said, "that nothing is worth doing."
1 • Chris • January 12, 2007 • 1:22 PM
Chris, you've been putting out some brilliant observations here lately. Keep it up.
2 • razzendahcuben • January 14, 2007 • 12:33 AM
Good stuff.
Another thing I noticed is that vanity is experienced by everyone, Christians included, because everyone is "under the sun". Non-Christians, however, never understand its source or how to deal with it—or if they do understand it they fail to put into practice.
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