# What's the agnostic version of nihilism?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-agnostic-version-of-nihilism/268705>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 11, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-agnostic-version-of-nihilism/268705 "2004-10-11T20:41:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-agnostic-version-of-nihilism/268705/1 "2004-10-11T20:41:28Z")

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Jomo Jr. is looking through the dictionary of philosophy, trying to pick which philosophy she agrees with most. She got interested in nihilism after seeing _The Big Lebowski_, and asked me about it, but I admit I never really “got” nihilism. I handed her Simon Blackburn’s _Dictionary of Philosophy_ and invited her to read up for herself.

She prefers an agnostic approach, so she asked me this analogy question:

Atheism:Agnosticism::Nihilism:what???

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-agnostic-version-of-nihilism/268705/2 "2004-10-11T21:00:32Z")

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Well, nihilism (I think) isn’t really a philosophy so much as a belief which some thinkers found to be inevitable – they also believed that you have to get past it to arrive at the truth. That said, I don’t think the “inherently unknowable truth” of agnosticism and the “nonexistent truth” of nihilsm really go together at all. Perhaps existentialism is more her cup of tea, particularly Heidegger (and Kierkegaard and Sartre for balance).

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**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-agnostic-version-of-nihilism/268705/3 "2004-10-11T21:00:36Z")

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Since nihilism is essentially a belief that human existence has no meaning, I guess you’re asking for a word which would indicate a lack of belief or certainty one way or the other about whether human existence has meaning?

I think agnosticism would still be the term you want since that word means “not knowing” and is not necessarily confined to a position on theism. It is perfectly valid to use it in a broader sense to indicate a lack of certainty or belief about the meaning of life.

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**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-agnostic-version-of-nihilism/268705/4 "2004-10-11T21:01:44Z")

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I would strongly suggest various relativisms, especially epistemological and moral relativisms (most people implicitly accept some form of aesthetic relativism i.e. beauty is in the eye of the beholder). Relativism is a short word for a really big topic, but that’d be my suggestion.