Belmont Club » The Singer Not the Song

Perhaps the last stage of nihilism is the rejection of life itself. A world from which all transcendence is banished will eventually find that it cannot define life in terms that are worthwhile. Having abolished every measure of value it will find that even its own achievements are equally worthless. If that were all then nihilism would simply destroy itself and everyone else could carry on. But that is not all. In order to complete the vision a complete Nihilist must convince everyone else that they too should follow to oblivion. The end, being desirable, should be universal; the finale must always be a gotterdammerung.  And is that the kind of consciousness worth preserving? That exquisite, sophisticated self-referential, self-hating consciousness? That way madness lies.

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