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Active Nihilism vs. Passive Nihilism
The distinction between active and passive nihilism comes from Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche explores this concept in several of his works, including Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, Twilight of the Idols, and The Will to Power.
Nietzsche saw that science and reason were destroying the traditional and religious forms of meaning and morality that sustained individuals and Western civilization in general. He saw this “death of God” as a necessary step in the moral evolution of humanity, but also as a great crisis that must be overcome. This crisis manifested as passive nihilism — a state of existential despair and anomie. Nietzsche was gravely concerned that if left unchecked, this crisis could destroy European civilization.
Passive nihilism, according to Nietzsche, is characterized by a sense of resignation, hopelessness, and the negation of life’s meaning. It arises when individuals confront the collapse of traditional meaning, values, beliefs, and morality, without offering alternative perspectives. Passive nihilism is marked by a disengagement from life, a sense of despair, and a loss of purpose — essentially, the denial of the will to live and the will to power.
For Nietzsche, the archetypal passive nihilist was his old respected professor, Arthur Schopenhauer, who adopted the Buddhistic view that denying the will to live was the path to liberation from suffering.
In contrast, Nietzsche describes active nihilism as a transformative response to the crisis of meaning — the will to power. Active nihilism, according to Nietzsche involves a critical questioning of existing values and the courage to create new ones. It embraces the recognition of life’s inherent meaninglessness (existential nihilism) but sees it as an opportunity for self-empowerment and authenticity. Nietzsche argues that active nihilism can lead to the affirmation of life on one’s own terms and the creation of new values based on individual will and creativity.
I teach you the overman. Man is something that is to be surpassed. What
have ye done to surpass man? All beings hitherto have created something beyond themselves: and ye want to be the ebb of that great tide, and would rather go back to the beast than surpass man? — Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Zarathustra’s Prologue, #3
As an atheist and antitheist (with regard to belief in personal deities) Nietzsche did not desire a descent back into the superstition of the past. Instead, he responded to the problem of passive nihilism by advocating the creation of new values and alternative sources of meaning. In Nietzsche’s view, art played a crucial role in this transformative process. He saw art as both a powerful means to bring down the edifice of society’s decaying values, and as a way to construct new ones that would replace them.
