Nihilism arises from failed attempts to become a fixed being.
Evidence
A choice of this kind is not encountered among those who, feeling the joy of existence, assume its gratuity. It appears either at the moment of adolescence, when the individual, seeing his child’s universe flow away, feels the lack which is in his heart, or, later on, when the attempts to fulfill himself as a being have failed; in any case, among men who wish to rid themselves of the anxiety of their freedom by denying the world and themselves. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, 50
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
Related
- Nihilism is a form of failed seriousness rather than its opposite. (similarity 0.86)
- The nihilist errs by treating existence as a lack rather than a positive lack (similarity 0.86)
- The adventurer arises from abundant vitality joined with reflective scepticism (similarity 0.79)
- Bad faith arises because humans as negativity face anguish before their freedom (similarity 0.78)