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Nihilism is a perspective on human life that basically views existence as meaningless. Such an attitude holds that since nothing ultimately matters, then it doesn’t matter how a person behaves.
Nihilism Quotes in 12 Rules for Life
The 12 Rules for Life quotes below are all either spoken by Nihilism or refer to Nihilism. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Overture
Quotes
During this time, I came to a more complete, personal realization of what the great stories of the past continually insist upon: the centre is occupied by the individual. The centre is marked by the cross, as X marks the spot. Existence at that cross is suffering and transformation—and that fact, above all, needs to be voluntarily accepted. It is possible to transcend slavish adherence to the group and its doctrines and, simultaneously, to avoid the pitfalls of its opposite extreme, nihilism. It is possible, instead, to find sufficient meaning in individual consciousness and experience.
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Rule 11
Quotes
It is almost impossible to over-estimate the nihilistic and destructive nature of this philosophy. It puts the act of categorization itself in doubt. It negates the idea that distinctions might be drawn between things for any reasons other than that of raw power. […] There is sufficient truth to Derrida’s claims to account, in part, for their insidious nature […] [T]he fact that power plays a role in human motivation does not mean that it plays the only role, or even the primary role.
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Nihilism Term Timeline in 12 Rules for Life
The timeline below shows where the term Nihilism appears in 12 Rules for Life. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Overture
...this, Peterson learned that it’s possible to avoid both “slavish adherence to the group” and nihilism—to find “sufficient meaning in individual consciousness and experience.”
(full context)
Rule 4: Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today
...be justified by its goodness.” This is what allows you to overcome petty attitudes like nihilism and resentment. Such “faith” isn’t the same thing as believing in magic. It’s not closing...
(full context)
Rule 7: Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient)
...Critically, it also means that what remains to Western society is something even more dead: nihilism, “as well as an equally dangerous susceptibility to new, totalizing, utopian ideas,” such as Communism...
(full context)
Rule 11: Do not bother children when they are skateboarding
Peterson deems that this is a “nihilistic and destructive” philosophy because it “puts the act of categorization itself in doubt.” It only...
(full context)
