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Nihilism vs Stoicism - What's the difference?

nihilism | stoicism |

As nouns the difference between nihilism and stoicism

is that nihilism is a philosophical doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life while stoicism is a school of philosophy during the Roman Empire that emphasized reason as a means of understanding the natural state of things, or logos, and as a means of freeing oneself from emotional distress.

nihilism

English

Noun

  • (philosophy) A philosophical doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life.
  • (ethics) The rejection of inherent or objective moral principles.
  • (politics) The rejection of non-rationalized or non-proven assertions in the social and political spheres of society.
  • (politics, historical) A Russian movement of the 1860s that rejected all authority and promoted the use of violence for political change.
  • The belief that all endeavors are ultimately futile and devoid of meaning.
  • "...the band members sweat hard enough to earn their pretensions, and maybe even their nihilism " (rock critic Dave Marsh, reviewing the band XTC's album Go )
  • Contradiction (not always deliberate) between behavior and espoused principle, to such a degree that all possible espoused principle is voided.
  • The deliberate refusal of belief, to the point that belief itself is rejected as untenable.
  • Derived terms

    * (l) * (l)

    Synonyms

    * (belief that all endeavours are void ) fatalism

    stoicism

    Noun

  • A school of philosophy during the Roman Empire that emphasized reason as a means of understanding the natural state of things, or logos, and as a means of freeing oneself from emotional distress.
  • A real or pretended indifference to pleasure or pain; insensibility; impassiveness.
  • *{{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=May 24 , author=Nathan Rabin , title=Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3 , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=Jones’ sad eyes betray a pervasive pain his purposefully spare dialogue only hints at, while the perfectly cast Brolin conveys hints of playfulness and warmth while staying true to the craggy stoicism at the character’s core. }}