Philosophy Now Forum

Hi

I am here searching productive conversations about practical things which interest me. I don't have much respect or interest in aspects of philosophy which appear to lack practical utility or necessity. I'd describe myself as a nihilist/moral relativist, I try to use this productively in the many ways I think it can be useful and hope to guide other like minded people towards this way of thinking, rather than despairing about the lack of objective meaning or objective true direction in life.

I am happy to have conversations with any except those who simply talk past each other, or talk just to try to dominate/win or with the idea that they have some specific idea which neatly explains everything.

Looking forward to conversing with you all.

Hi there.

Welcome. I'm pretty new here too. My pet peeve is the words we use when we interact with others. For example, when someone outside of philosophical circles hears moral relativism or nihilism they instantly think anything goes. You and I know that's not what it means, but if you're trying to convince someone to listen to you, starting out that way is sure to fail. So you have to be careful. And the ironic thing is, those that purport to believe in objective morality don't realize by there being so many "objective" belief systems, all of which seem to be infinitely interpretable, their beliefs actually ARE completely relative.

You make some great points RustyBert, I have already dispensed with using the word nihilism in most circumstances due to this problem, even within philosophical circles. "Nihilism" is simply embedded with the interpretation of despair about nihilism for many or most people. Haven't heard of any issues with moral relativism... what do you suggest as an alternative?

Maybe Humanity Based Morality. When someone says, Well if you don't believe in an objective god, then what DO you believe in? I respond, I believe in You!

Not a bad suggestion, I may need it since I've already seen people here talk about moral relativism as anarchy.