But I'm not going to take even the most philosophical nihilists all that seriously. I mean, it's one thing to go the Nietzche route and propound the deconstruction of a system one sees as failing - that's the destructive-as-creative act, a contrary position that makes most sense in the context of a few hundred years of German idealism.

I don't consider Nietzsche a nihilist. He's got an ethos, he just doesn't want the baggage that comes with the word.

But it's quite another to suggest that removing one system negates all others. Is there a serious thinker with this position?

I don't know any. But I'm not sure if the validity of nihilism rests with serious thinkers. I think it's a fairly simple proposition, and I think many people have had the kind of life experience that supports that conclusion.

One of my favorite quotes in Annie Dillard's A Tinker at Pilgrim's Creek is from the French entomologist who says, "The more you know about insects, the harder it is to believe in a rational god."

Sometimes I feel like the more I acquaint myself with human history, the harder it is to believe in our belief systems.

Speaking of classic films, I've got an extra paycheck in May which I was going to put towards new tires, but I think I'll also pick up the Criterion Collection dvd of The Passion of Joan of Arc. I saw it once on TCM and fell madly in love with it, especially Falconetti's title performance.

but I think I'll also pick up the Criterion Collection dvd of The Passion of Joan of Arc. I saw it once on TCM and fell madly in love with it, especially Falconetti's title performance.

Right, one of the most legendary film performances of all time. He did kind of torture it out of her, though. There's a reason why she doesn't have an extensive filmography afterword.

I wish TCM was one of my standard digital channels.

I wish TCM was one of my standard digital channels.

You can come over for Simone Signoret night.

(Including a previously unsuspected Barry Lyndon fandom contingent.)

How could anyone read this thread and not know that Jessica has an unhealthly love of that movie?

How could anyone read this thread and not know that Jessica has an unhealthly love of that movie?

She doesn't make up a contingent by herself!

She doesn't make up a contingent by herself!

Yes, but she is President, CEO, and Marketing Manager of it.

megan, I've got the complete Wire and you're welcome to borrow it.

I will do this at some point I'm sure, but that's a lot of episodes.

I will do this at some point I'm sure, but that's a lot of episodes.

You only have to start with the first season!

"The more you know about insects, the harder it is to believe in a rational god."

I don't see that as nihilism, though. Could be simple atheism, gnosticism, or any number of thought systems that don't rest on meaninglessness. I mean, I can think that evolution is cruel and often leads to absurd results and/or I can think that evolution is beautiful in its ornate pointlessness, but what I think about evolution doesn't say much about how much I love my kids, y'know.

I think it's a fairly simple proposition, and I think many people have had the kind of life experience that supports that conclusion.

I dunno. Seems to me that any nihilist worth his or her (but probably his, for the same reason that your typical libertarian is a he) salt would be an agent of mass mayhem with a short and unhappy life. But I would wager that anyone who would identify themselves as a nihilist is both fairly well-educated and somewhat deluded. And would undoubtedly do quite a bit to avoid unnecessary physical pain and/or death, neither of which should hold any meaning for the Platonic nihilist.

Bringing this back around to my criticism of Danny Boyle and Chuck Palahniuk, their protagonists (in the movies I was criticizing, at least) don't strike me as the terrifying sort of agent-of-destruction nihilist (say, Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men [I almost wrote "County" there, which would be quite a different movie]) but the I-just-discovered-Nietzche-and-don't-really-understand-him sort of privileged nihilist who was common in Philosophy 101 classes.