Philosophical view that nothing is morally right or morally wrong and that morality doesn't exist
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This article is about the meta-ethical position. For a more general discussion of amoralism, see Amorality.
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Moral nihilism (also called ethical nihilism) is the meta-ethical view that nothing is morally right or morally wrong and that morality doesn't exist.[1][2]
Moral nihilism is distinct from moral relativism, which allows for actions to be wrong relative to a particular culture or individual. It is also distinct from expressivism, according to which when we make moral claims, "We are not making an effort to describe the way the world is ... we are venting our emotions, commanding others to act in certain ways, or revealing a plan of action".[3][citation needed]
Moral nihilism today broadly tends to take the form of an Error Theory: The view developed originally by J.L. Mackie in his 1977 book Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong. Error theory and nihilism broadly take the form of a negative claim about the existence of objective values or properties. Under traditional views there are moral properties or methods which hold objectively in some sense beyond our contingent interests which morally obligate us to act. For Mackie and the Error Theorists, such properties do not exist in the world, and therefore morality conceived of by reference to objective facts must also not exist. Therefore, morality in the traditional sense does not exist.[citation needed]
However, holding nihilism does not necessarily imply that one should give up using moral or ethical language; some nihilists contend that it remains a useful tool.[4] In fact Mackie and other contemporary defenders of Error Theory, such as Richard Joyce, defend the use of moral or ethical talk and action even in knowledge of their fundamental falsity. The legitimacy of this activity is a subject of debate in philosophy.
Moralnihilism (also called ethical nihilism) is the meta-ethical view that nothing is morally right or morally wrong and that morality doesn't exist....
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distinguishing feature. Moral universalism is opposed to moralnihilism and moral relativism. However, not all forms of moral universalism are absolutist...
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which the broader philosophy of nihilism originated. In Russian, the word nigilizm (Russian: нигилизм; meaning 'nihilism', from Latin nihil 'nothing') came...
skepticism is divided into three subclasses: moral error theory (or moralnihilism), epistemological moral skepticism, and noncognitivism. All three of...
implies the rejection of moral values. On this view, absurdism brings with it a highly controversial form of moralnihilism. This means that there is...
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interest Realpolitik Realism (international relations) Self-interest Moralnihilism Burns, J. H. (1991). Cambridge History of Political Thought 1450–1700...
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male–female interpersonal relationships; school shootings; religion and moralnihilism; relativism; and lack of respect for the values that built Western society...
read and admired Sade, he concludes that Sade's "profusely illustrated moralnihilism has entered our cultural bloodstream at the highest intellectual and...
position of Moralnihilism is warranted. Moral relativism accepts the idea of morality, but asserts that there are multiple potential arbiters of moral truth...
from Jonathan Dancy's theory of moral particularism, to Aristotelian virtue ethics, to Kantian deontology, to moralnihilism." UCLA philosophy professor Pamela...
according to our "strongest" or "best" reason. Free will Determinism MoralnihilismMoral skepticism "Psychological determinism". APA Dictionary of Psychology...
[citation needed] Approaches such as ethical egoism, moral relativism, moral skepticism, and moralnihilism are also considered. Shinto beliefs start with an...
distinguishing feature. Moral universalism is opposed to moralnihilism and moral relativism. However, not all forms of moral universalism are absolutist...
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