Legal Writing

Word of the Day: Nihilism

By Daniel Scocco

Nihilism is a doctrine. It defends that nothing can be really known or communicated. In other words, it is an extreme skepticism regarding knowledge and reality itself, and it can be equated with nothingness. Nihilism can also mean the rejection of all established religious values and morals. The adjective is nihilistic.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s presumed next president, criticized Russia’s “legal nihilism” and called for stepping up the fight against corruption, opening his campaign Tuesday with a careful speech before a Kremlin-organized forum. (USAToday.com)

The suspicion – hotly disputed by the deconstructionists – is that there is something nihilistic about the mode of inquiry precisely because of its tendency to dismantle all ideas, and with them moral principles and values. (NYTimes.com)

Full post as published by Daily Writing Tips on September 29, 2009 (boomark / email).