Nihilism vs Atheism – What’s the difference?

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Nihilism vs Atheism - What's the difference?
As nouns the difference between nihilism and atheism is that nihilism is (philosophy) extreme skepticism, maintaining that nothing has a real existence while atheism is (narrowly) belief that no deities exist (sometimes including rejection of other religious beliefs).

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)

    Related terms

    * (l)
    * (l)
    * (l)

    Synonyms

    * (belief that all endeavours are void ) fatalism

    External links

    *
    *
    English words suffixed with -ism

    atheism

    English

    (wikipedia atheism)
    (“atheism on Wikiquote”)

    Noun

    (en noun)

  • (narrowly) Belief that no deities exist (sometimes including rejection of other religious beliefs).
  • * {{quote-magazine, year = 2002

    • , title = Should atheists be agnostics?
    , first = Michael
    , last = Martin
    , magazine = The Philosophers’ Magazine
    , editor = Baggini, Julian
    , issue = 19
    , issn = 1354-814X
    , page = 18
    , archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20021220073331/http://www.philosophers.co.uk/portal_article.php?id=583
    , passage = For atheism‘ to be rationally justified it is only necessary that it be more probable than not or at least more probable than theism. Certainty is no more required in the case of ‘ atheism than it is in the case of scientific theories.
    }}

  • (broadly) Rejection of belief that any deities exist (with or without a belief that no deities exist).
  • * {{quote-book, year = 1857

    • , title = Modern Atheism: under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws
    , first = James
    , last = Buchanan
    , authorlink = James Buchanan (minister)
    , location = Boston
    , publisher = Gould and Lincoln
    , page = 365
    , url = http://books.google.com/books?id=wsoVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA365&dq=atheism
    , passage = The theory of Secularism is a form, not of dogmatic”, but of ”skeptical”, Atheism ; it is dogmatic only in ”denying the sufficiency of the evidence for the being and perfections of God. It does not deny, it only does not believe, His existence.
    }}

  • * {{quote-book, year = 1896

    • , title = Theism or Athiesm: Which is the more reasonable?
    , first = George William
    , last = Foote
    , authorlink = George William Foote
    , coauthor = Lee, W. T.
    , publisher = R. Forder
    , location = London
    , page = 17
    , chapter = First Night
    , url = http://books.google.com/books?id=91AQAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA17
    , passage = …but Atheism per se simply means, not denial, but rejection, in the sense of not accepting the Theistic theory of the universe which Mr. Lee has put forward tonight.
    }}

  • (very broadly) Absence of belief that any deities exist (including absence of the concept of deities).
  • * {{quote-book, year = 1829

    • , first = John
    , last = Wesley
    , title = Sermons, on Several Occasions
    , edition = 10th
    , volume = 2
    , page = 373
    , passage = What can parents do, and mothers more especially, with regard to the atheism that is natural to all the children of men?
    }}

  • * {{quote-book, year = 1979

    • , first = George H.
    , last = Smith
    , authorlink = George H. Smith
    , title =
    , publisher = Prometheus
    , location = Buffalo, New York
    , isbn = 978-0879751241
    , lccn = 79002726
    , id =
    , page = 7
    , passage = Atheism , in its basic form, is not a belief; it is the absence of belief.” An atheist is not primarily a person who ”believes” that a god does ”not” exist; rather, he does ”not believe in the existence of a god.
    }}

  • (loosely, uncommon) Absence of belief in a particular deity, pantheon, or religious doctrine (notwithstanding belief in other deities).
  • * {{quote-book, year = 1995

    • , title = The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism
    , editor = McBrien, Richard P.
    , section = keyword Domitilla, Flavia
    , publisher = HarperCollins
    , isbn = 9780060653385
    , page = 431
    , url = http://books.google.com/books?id=WlNfJC6RveAC&pg=PA431
    , passage = Domitilla, Flavia , niece of the emperor Domitian (81-96). She and her husband, Flavius Clemens (consul in 95 and cousin of Domitian), were probably Christians; charged with atheism and adoption of Jewish ways, they were punished (95) with death (Clemens) and exile (Domitilla).
    }}

  • * {{quote-book, year = 2010

    • , first = Ross
    , last = Thompson
    , title = Buddhist Christianity: A Passionate Openness
    , publisher = O-Books
    , isbn = 978-1846943362
    , page = 260
    , url = http://books.google.com/books?id=NeWEQWx9pAgC&pg=260&q=atheism
    , passage = Sacrificial religion becomes redundant – which is why Christianity did indeed have a reputation in the ancient world for atheism : it rejected the key duty humans are thought to owe to the gods, namely sacrifice.
    }}

    Usage notes

    The term (term) may refer either to:
    * (rejection of belief) an explicit rejection of belief, with or without a denial that any deities exist ((term)),
    * (absence of belief) an absence of belief in the existence of any deities ((term) or (term)),
    * (affirmative belief) an explicit belief that no gods exist ((term) or (term)).

    Quotations

    Derived terms

    * apatheism

    Related terms

    * atheist
    * atheistic
    * atheistical
    * atheistically
    * atheisticalness
    * atheophobia

    See also

    *
    * agnosticism
    * atheonism
    * athean
    * atheal
    * deism
    * theism
    * monotheism
    * polytheism
    * pantheism
    * panentheism

    References

    *
    * Random House Unabridged Dictionary , Random House, Inc. (31 August 2006).
    * Encyclopædia Britannica , (2011), keyword ATHEISM’>citation
    * Encyclopedia of Philosophy , (1967, 2005), keyword ATHEISM
    * Michael Martin, ATHEISM, A Philosophical Justification
    * George H. Smith, The Scope of Atheism”, in ”Atheism: The Case Against God (1979)
    English words suffixed with -ism
    English words not following the I before E except after C rule

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