Malism
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Malism is the belief that the world and/or the universe are fundamentally evil. As such, malism is a more specific sub-set of pessimism, which holds that the world is fundamentally bad. In either case, the world may be worth less than nothing.
Whereas the response to pessimism may be a feeling of despair or depression, malism is likelier to elicit feelings of hate or rage. While going beyond pessimism in its emotional intensity, malism may also stimulate efforts to change the underlying conditions, albeit in destructive ways.
Contents
History
Some Christian theologians, like Leonard of Port Maurice in his sermon "The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved" (1745), have asserted that the vast majority of people will end up in Hell,[1] and may deserve to go there. Many preachers have railed against the world's sinners. Some religions believe the world is ruled by a devil or demiurge, who is unworthy of worship.
Humanist malism
Life on earth
The earth's biosphere has evolved through natural selection. This violent and painful process (ever since animals evolved brains) has been the subject of many pessimistic essays.[2][3] There is some hope that future technology, perhaps after the Singularity, could mitigate the problem of non-human suffering on earth.[4]
Malists might believe that in practice nothing can be done to solve this problem of suffering, and it might be objectively better if there was no animal life on earth. They would also object to the tendency to romanticize nature, or to the human tendency to admire carnivorous predators.[5]
Human history
Political philosophers like Schopenhauer and Marx believed that humanity arranges its affairs so badly that the world could be considered evil. Instead of anguish, this may cause feelings of contempt and misanthropy. This version of malism may still be less hopeless than the others, as political conditions would be easier to change than nature itself, but real improvements may still be unachievable.
Cosmic malism
The ancient philosophical Principle of plenitude states that everything that can exist really does exist.[6] This would mean that all possible tortures and horrors are realized somewhere, including infinitely bad ones (assuming that infinite things can exist). Nietzsche's concept of eternal recurrence makes similar claims. In physics, this is also implied in the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. The philosopher David Lewis believed all possible worlds exist and are equally real (the concept of modal realism).[7]
It's not clear that this means that pain and pleasure cancel out exactly across reality. For example, if there are more ways for things to go wrong than right, there might be more pain than pleasure. When considering an infinite number of possible universes (as in the anthropic principle), different probabilities can be obtained by using different counting methods.[8][9]
Beyond the hopeless futility of pessimism, malism can evoke existential horror. This may lead to the strong belief it would be better if nothing existed, even going beyond omnicide.[10] However, such views may be incompatible with many religions, specifically those that hold God to be omnibenevolent and omnipotent.
Political malism
Conventional pessimism may lead to lethargy, with perhaps some effort to improve conditions, but malism may have more destructive effects. The belief that the world is evil and has negative value could lead to nihilism or anarchism. Many extremists say they were motivated to militant action by witnessing claimed injustices in the world, but witnessing these injustices also hardened them and made them less sensitive to the pain their own actions caused.[11] The belief that a society is inherently evil may also create a desire to simply destroy it.
By its very name, malism places a greater emphasis on pain than pleasure, possibly leading to the philosophical belief of negative utilitarianism.[12]
Criticism
Malism is a controversial notion, as it assigns a sense of agency to reality itself, thereby anthropomorphizing reality. It may indeed be possible for humans to be evil, or for God to be evil (as in the idea of Dystheism), but it seems to be a contradiction in terms for atheists to consider the universe to be evil, if the universe has no controlling intelligence. Nevertheless, it has been said that many atheists are angry at reality.[13]
One possible resolution is the online concept of Gnon, which states that certain universal principles control the emergence and evolution of all complex systems, and these principles are described both in classical literature and modern hard sciences. Gnon is so complex that it seems to have god-like qualities. However, Gnon is a notably unpleasant god, with decline and suffering always on the horizon.
Popular culture
Many people who call themselves nihilists are not existential nihilists in the philosophical sense, but seem to take pleasure in hating the world and calling for its destruction. They are accused of not thinking through their positions, and of being ruled by angry emotions.[14][15]
Goth and Emo culture reject the world as it is, sometimes angrily so.
The term was defined in a Mickey Bach "Word-a-day" cartoon made before 1985.[16]
"Malism" is a Belgian band that released an album of the same name in 2015.
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Jefferson McMahan, "The moral problem of predation", 2012, http://jeffersonmcmahan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/The-Moral-Problem-of-Predation.pdf
- ↑ Derek Parfit, "Reasons and Persons", Oxford University Press, Part 4
- ↑ http://qz.com/497675/to-truly-end-animal-suffering-the-most-ethical-choice-is-to-kill-all-predators-especially-cecil-the-lion/
- ↑ http://blog.devicerandom.org/2015/09/28/is-a-biosphere-worth-living/
- ↑ Arthur Lovejoy, "The Great Chain of Being", Chapters 4 & 5, 1936
- ↑ David Lewis, 1986, "On the Plurality of Worlds". Basil Blackwell, ISBN 0-631-22426-2.
- ↑ The Anthropic Principle: Man as the Focal Point of Nature, Reinhard Breuer, 1991, ISBN 978-0-8176-3482-7
- ↑ Universes, John Leslie, 1989, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-04144-9
- ↑ James S. Hans paraphrasing Nietzsche, "The Site of Our Lives: The Self and the Subject from Emerson to Foucault", page 131
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ https://www.utilitarianism.com/pinprick-argument.html
- ↑ Discussed in several book-length works, such as "Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless", by Greta Christina (2012). And in The Irrational Atheist: Dissecting the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris, And Hitchens by Vox Day (2008)
- ↑ Linda Kimball, "Nihilism: the West's evil religion of idolatry, lies, and hate", Jul 22 2014. http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/kimball/140722
- ↑ Chris Fox, Sep 27 2012. http://chrisfox.tumblr.com/post/32385224662/why-nihilism-is-stupid
- ↑ http://wordinfo.info/results/malism
