You can do neither. Knowing that there’s no inherent meaning to existence isn’t for everyone. And I would argue that it’s better to not be a nihilist at all than to be a pessimistic one.
Indeed, I do think the same. What I have trouble understanding, and even with close friends, is how “no inherent meaning to existence” seems to quickly become, in some cases, “no meaning to existence”. I always tend to think this slide tends to exclude another possibility. A non-inherent meaning.
Why not neither?
You can do neither. Knowing that there’s no inherent meaning to existence isn’t for everyone. And I would argue that it’s better to not be a nihilist at all than to be a pessimistic one.
Indeed, I do think the same. What I have trouble understanding, and even with close friends, is how “no inherent meaning to existence” seems to quickly become, in some cases, “no meaning to existence”. I always tend to think this slide tends to exclude another possibility. A non-inherent meaning.
Agreed. Whether we realize it or not, we humans have been making our own meaning ever since we first developed societies anyway.
That’s very true, yes. And non-inherent hardly means “weak” or “inefficient”.
Not at all. To quote Death from Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather:
Thanks for sharing, I like this one!
One of my favorites! The whole scene from the TV version, if you’re interested. One of the best explanations of optimistic nihilism I’ve ever seen.