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Simple Beginnings
Nihilism is first coined by Swiss philosopher, Jacob Hermann Obereit, and thus its formal introduction into the European world. -
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Timespan of Nihilism
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The Spread
Friedrich Jacobi publishes what would become known as Jacobi’s Letter to Fichte, in which Jacobi explains that Johann Fitchte’s idealism was actually nihilism since he focused so heavily on man that it would deny the absolution of God, which helped assert nihilism further into the public consciousness. -
The Rise of Extremism
Reaction in Germany is published by the anarchist Mikhael Bakunin. This entreaty is infamous and heavily associated with nihilism since it celebrated the idea of destruction as the creative source of all life and a creative passion. -
Another Early Beginner
Either/Or is published. The book is one of Kierkegaard’s best known works and helps explore what Kierkegaard thought would be the best way to live through his early version of nihilism in the form of existentialism. -
Family Time
Fathers and Sons is published in Russia. The book, written by Ivan Turgenev, popularizes the term nihilism in Russia and thus helps bring the nihilistic movement of Russia into the public eye. -
A Death in the Family
Czar Alexander II of Russia is assassinated by members of the People’s Will, a nihilist socialist group. The Russian government would try and suppress nihilist groups even further than before after this to try and stop terrorists. This represents the kind of violence that extremist nihilists could do at their most radical. -
Weird Science
The Gay Science is published by Friedrich Nietzsche. It is the very first time the famous quote “God is dead” is used by Nietzsche. Nietzsche also saw The Gay Science to be his most personal work. -
Where's Beyond Good and Evil 2, Ubisoft?
Beyond Good and Evil is published by Friedrich Nietzsche. In the book, Nietzsche criticizes past philosophers in their ignorant and dogmatic view of morality. Nietzsche tells that he believes that good and evil aren’t opposites, rather they’re different expressions of the same nature of humanity. -
Nietzsche 2.0 Has Finished Installing
Being and Time is published by Martin Heidegger. The book is one of the most central philosophical works of the 20th century in its exploration of existentialism and the true meaning of being, written in a way like a succession of Nietzsche’s ideas. -
Nihilism Has Evolved... Meh
Right to Philosophy is published by Jacques Derrida. It is the collection of all of Derrida’s work influenced by nihilism that deconstructs and analyzes Western ideas. It is a modern evolution of nihilism into the modern form of deconstructionism and postmodernism, both of which were starting to be shaped by all of Derrida’s predecessors like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Heidegger.
