# Nihilism An idea according to which existence lacks objective value since there does not exist any external, objective institution of valuation or [[Moralator]]. Nihilism goes through four phases -- *the naive* (unconscious), *the cynical* (the nihilist pretends against better judgment that there are objective values), *the* *ironic* (the nihilist builds their own internal and subjective values in opposition to the surrounding world's falsely objective values), and finally *the affirmative* (the nihilist interprets the absence of objective values as a liberating possibility to create their own values and convince the environment of these created values' excellence). This is the process that Nietzsche calls *the death of God*.