• yesman@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    22 days ago

    Nihilism (the philosophy) needs a new label. Like “retarded” or “manic depressive”, the common usage has overtaken the academic meaning. I’m not complaining, this is a natural and good process of language. Just saying we need a new term.

    • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      22 days ago

      It’s extremely common for different fields of inquiry (scientific, mathematical, philosophical, etc) to reuse common words. If we had to come up with brand new words for everything in every field then we’d all be speaking gibberish, like they do in medicine!