While in the western world faith in God has long since been sent to the graveyard, faith in God’s concept of ethics and morality still haunt the human mind. Despite the victory of existentialism and the words of philosophers like Nietszche and Stirner finally shattering the fragile glass of moral realism, in actual political thought these philosophical advancements have remained in their infancy. Commoners still bray like donkeys about “Natural Rights” and “Social Justice” as if these concepts have the slightest shred of validity. Even with the advancement of moral non-cognitivism and the gradual shift of non-theist philosophers from any sort interest in discovering the One True Moral Order Hanging There Out In Space, there is still earnest discussion, even among ATHEISTS about the question of ethics.
The history of egoism is of course tied to Max Stirner, who in turn provided the basis for existentialism. Nietzsche’s contributions further advanced existentialism into the mainstream where it eventually coalesced into a more popular philosophy in the hands of writers like Jean Paul Sartre. Existentialism is essentially the Western acceptance of the Zen Buddhist position that “The Great Truth is that There is No Great Truth”. Western thought has merely just now caught up to something eastern thinkers and monks have known for quite some time, which is that ethics, morality, and conscious constructs have no sort of intrinsic meaning or weight, and are merely the vain imaginings of the human mind. However, Western thinkers, unlike their Asian cousins, did not have a tradition of meditation and intense personal focus to enable them to peacefully absorb this knowledge. While a Zen Buddhist can smile at the nihilism of the universe and calm the vigorous horse of his mind with Zazen, the Western philosopher often found this final knowledge to be an endless torment, and had no refuge from what he saw as the terrifying implications of this reality. (Given this perspective, the insanity of Nietszche and Sarte’s “Existential Angst” should now make perfect sense)
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