Featured Article Quiz #109
Nihilism
#1 Which statement best describes existential nihilism according to the text?
Life has no objective meaning or higher purpose, which can lead to feelings like indifference or an existential crisis.
Truth and knowledge exist independently of people’s perspectives, even if meaning in life is absent.
Morality has a real, objective foundation that does not depend on human perspectives.
#2 What does moral nihilism deny?
That there are objective moral facts, so morality does not truly have an objective basis.
That people’s perspectives affect knowledge and truth, meaning knowledge is fully objective.
That reality could be indifferent or hard to understand, insisting reality must have objective purpose.
#3 According to the text, where did the word “nihilism” come from?
From Latin nihil (“nothing”) plus “-ism,” appearing in Germany in the 1700s and spreading in English in the 1800s.
From Greek logos (“truth”) plus “-ism,” first appearing in England in the 1600s.
From French morale (“morals”) plus “-ism,” first appearing in Russia in the early 1900s.