In philosophy, life has no inherent meaning; which term describes this belief?

In philosophy, life has no inherent meaning; which term describes this belief?

• A. Existentialism
• B. Nihilism
• C. Humanism
• D. Pragmatism

Answer: (B)

Nihilism is the belief that life has no inherent meaning. It holds that there are no objective purposes or values baked into the universe, so any sense of meaning must come from humans or be absent altogether. This fits the statement because it rejects any preassigned meaning of life. By contrast, existentialism says people create their own meaning through choices and actions; humanism emphasizes value and dignity in human life and often locates meaning in human endeavors; pragmatism cares about what works in practice and the consequences of beliefs, rather than asserting an absolute meaning of life.

Nihilism is the belief that life has no inherent meaning. It holds that there are no objective purposes or values baked into the universe, so any sense of meaning must come from humans or be absent altogether. This fits the statement because it rejects any preassigned meaning of life. By contrast, existentialism says people create their own meaning through choices and actions; humanism emphasizes value and dignity in human life and often locates meaning in human endeavors; pragmatism cares about what works in practice and the consequences of beliefs, rather than asserting an absolute meaning of life.