ABSTRACT
Nihilism is generally taken to mean that nothing matters, but what does that mean? What could it mean? This chapter examines the various senses that Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger wring out of the notion by running the two-word phrase through its many semantic possibilities. For Nietzsche, the fact that nothing matters is what matters the most in that the lack of intrinsic values in reality frees us to create our own. Heidegger sees the prospect of our creating our own values as the height of nihilism rather than its overcoming. Something outside of us does matter deeply, but it is essential that this matter be no-thing. The chapter closes by exploring the significance of the phrase’s polysemy for the matter in light of the importance both thinkers give to language.
