^ Existentialism vs. nihilism

As an atheist and an existentialist (no, they are not thesame), I’ve grown fatigued by the nimrods and uneducated who cannotdifferentiate between the two, or who confuse nihilism with existentialism.

So let’s have a little Philosophy 101, because neithernihilism nor existentialism is a “religion.”

Nihilism is the pessimism of philosophy. It holds that lifeis ultimately trivial and meaningless. Extreme nihilistic views find suicide areasonable response to life without meaning. But that is only the extreme;it is showcased in works by Dostoyevksy in ThePossessed and by Camus in The Myth ofSisyphus.

Existentialism begins with by positing that a human must“exist” before it can “be” – that there is no god to give meaning; humanscreate their own meaning. This is done through personal choices rather thanthrough communing with external/spiritual forces. John-Paul Sartre wroteextensively on existentialism.