Nihilist movement: Encyclopedia II - Nihilist movement - Political philosophy

Nihilist movement - Political philosophy

Nihilism was not a political movement. It was a youth culture. Nevertheless, it led to the politization and radicalization of the Russian youth. Many revolutionaries like Nikolai Tchaikovsky, Sophia Perovskaya, Sergei Kravchinski, Vera Zasulich and Sergey Nechayev were adept of Nihilist values.

Nihilist political philosophy rejected all religious and political authority, social traditions, and traditional morality as standing in opposition to freedom, the ultimate ideal. In this sense, it can be seen as an extreme form of anarchism, but devoid of a revolutionary programme or political strategy.

Nihilism greatly resembled anarchism, though there are three main differences:

1. Nihilism did not see the State as absolutely bad. Reforms that would lead to fundamental changes in society were considered to be possible. This is not the case with anarchism.
2. Nihilism was more along the lines of a cultural rejection of all systems of authority and all social conventions. Anarchism is more along the lines of a political strategy which puts more emphasis on promoting and furthering a definite constructive revolutionary programme, although anarchism definitely places importance on opposing systems of authority as well.
3. As a political movement, nihilism was primarily a Russian phenomenon.

The Nihilism movement differs from the modern philosophical concept of nihilism, literally meaning belief in nothing, which supposes that human existence has no purpose, meaning, or essential value. To the contrary, Russian Nihilists had very strong beliefs that they were willing to risk their lives for. What they had in common was a belief that the existing establishment had no value.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Political philosophy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki