Moral Nihilism

A Moral Nihilism Theory is a meta-ethical theory that posits no action or moral claim holds inherent moral value.

• Context:
  • It can (typically) argue that all moral values are human constructs without any objective or universal truth.
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  • It can range from advocating complete moral indifference to recognizing the utility of moral constructs without attributing them any objective truth.
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  • It can be contrasted with moral relativism, which allows for moral statements to have truth within specific cultural or individual contexts but denies universal moral truths.
  • It can reject the notion that moral statements can be inherently true or false, aligning with moral skepticism.
  • It can suggest that moral rules are socially constructed to serve psychological, social, or economic functions but lack intrinsic validity.
  • It can be associated with extreme forms of nihilism, which reject all meaning or value in any domain, including morality.
  • It can influence existentialist philosophies that question the basis of moral values and the meaning of life.
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• Counter-Example(s):
  • Moral Universalism, which asserts that some moral principles apply universally and hold objective truth.
  • Moral Realism, which posits that moral facts exist independently of human beliefs or perceptions.
• See: Radical Moral Ideology, Moral Philosophy, Nihilism, Metaphysical Nihilism, Existential Meaning.

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References

2013

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_nihilism
  • Moral nihilism (also known as ethical nihilism) is the meta-ethical view that nothing is intrinsically moral or immoral. For example, a moral nihilist would say that killing someone, for whatever reason, is neither inherently right nor inherently wrong. Moral nihilists consider morality to be constructed, a complex set of rules and recommendations that may give a psychological, social, or economical advantage to its adherents, but is otherwise without universal or even relative truth in any sense.

    Moral nihilism is distinct from moral relativism, which does allow for moral statements to be true or false in a non-objective sense, but does not assign any static truth-values to moral statements, and of course moral universalism, which holds moral statements to be objectively true or false. Insofar as only true statements can be known, moral nihilism implies moral skepticism.

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