Suchergebnisse

This article is a critical examination of the occasionally voiced notion that the violence perpetrated by organizations such as Al Qaeda is "nihilistic." It is suggested that this idea is that contrary to the revolutionary, idealist rhetoric of those enacting the violence, there is something hollow, cruel, and irrational at the center of such actions. Through an examination of the notion of nihilism as understood by Hegel and Nietzsche, the present article argues that this intuitive application of the term "nihilistic" to organizations such as Al Qaeda has substantial merit, and that it is in fact possible to specify a more detailed philosophical and psychological basis to the concept. It is shown that Hegel and Nietzsche have, in separate ways, developed the sort of philosophical and psychological basis to such a notion of nihilism. T. K. Brown