Nietzsche’s philosophy and European nihilism
The definition of nihilism is considered and it is emphasized that the main contribution to its comprehension has been made by philosophy and literature. Many philosophers paid tribute to the study of nihilism, but it was Nietzsche who made the most serious contribution to its analysis. Nietzsche’s creativity contains interconnected, but relatively independent complexes: the doctrine of the «great style», the method, the reappraisal of all values, and the «eternal return» of the will to power. The great style is based on aphorisms and nuances, and the phrase is formed based on rhythmic curve and musical plastic. The method involves becoming a counterweight to the low essence of the reappraisal of all values caused by the “death of God”, which marked the beginning of the era of universal nihilism. According to Nietzsche, the will to power is the basic principle of life. Eternal return is a “being of becoming”, a return to one another, the cleansing of a person from everything fake. All these five independent Nietzsche complexes contribute to the understanding of nihilism. In Russia, nihilism spread widely in the second half of the 19th century, primarily among raznochintsy. Philosophical studies of this trend belong to S.L. Frank, N.A. Berdyaev, as well as D.I. Pisarev, V.K. Makhaysky, K.N. Leontiev. V.G. Belinsky, M.N. Katkov, M.A. Bakunin, S.M. Stepnyak-Kravchinsky, P.A. Kropotkin, N.N. Strakhov, V.V. Vorovsky wrote about nihilism in literature. The nihilists were depicted in the works by D.I. Pisarev, N.G. Chernyshevsky, F.M. Dostoevsky, N.S. Leskov, A.F. Pisemsky, who treated them with great sympathy; however, the essence of nihilism was most fully expressed by I.S. Turgenev in his novel «Fathers and Sons». Nihilism can be seen as deconstruction of the entire European culture. It cleared room for new offsprings. Having appeared before similar approaches by Heidegger, Derrida and others, Nietzsche’s deconstructivism is the most profound among them and has had a fundamental impact on the development of philosophy.