Page:The Spirit of Russia by T G Masaryk, volume 2.pdf/99

Rh in the attempt to destroy authority, superstition, illusion, and falsehood, he is campaigning against orthodoxy. But the nihilists have by no means thought out their doctrine metaphysically; their nihilism is social and political; they aim at destroying Old Russia, the Russia of Nicholas. They read Mill and Schopenhauer, but the metaphysical nihilism of these authors was largely ignored; the criticism of the Russian nihilists was turned against the oppressive theocracy.

Fundamentally, Pisarev's attack on aesthetics is an onslaught upon the illusions of theology.

Atheism and materialism repudiate teleology, offering their own causal explanation of the universe, of the individual life, and of the life of society. Materialism is mechanism, naturalistic mechanism.

In Herzen's writings, nihilism already makes its appearance as positivist disillusionment. The opposite of positivist disillusionment is metaphysical and religious intoxication. It is a case of nihilism versus mysticism.

Pisarev frequently condemns the "intuitive" philosophy, to which he counterposes practice, the daily bread.

Dostoevskii was the first to force upon nihilism reflection upon its own relationships in the field of metaphysics and in that of the philosophy of religion; he was the first to make a serious attempt to grasp its gencral significance, though preliminary essays in this direction may be found in the writings of Bakunin and Herzen. Subsequently, building upon the foundation laid by Dostoevskii, Nietzsche conceived nihilism metaphysically and in its world-wide and historical relationships.

However much the nihilist might read Schopenhauer, however greatly he might esteem the German writer's works, he did not become a pessimist, did not surrender to despair. The nihilist is fierce (Herzen is right here), and he turns wrathfully against oppressive authority. The nihilist accepts the views of Stirner, but Stirnes does not make him indifferent. Stirner himself, refraining in 1848 from participating in the revolution, incorporated into his life the true significance of his book The Ego and his Own, whereas the Russian "ego" is a theoretical and practical revolutionist guided by the teaching of Bakunin, his aim is socio-political destruction, pandestruction. The nihilist is a politician, not a metaphysician; he is opposed to the theocracy, but he is not