PyramidHead
Contributor
Psychological contribution: the consequences of nihilism are all emotional. The feeling of pointlessness is created by lack of meaningful relationships, which is predictable for a social species.
It's somewhat condescending to say that a person's worldview is a result of not enough checkmarks in Maslow's pyramid. But I say the same thing about people I disagree with sometimes, so I guess it's fair. I would have put it the other way around: recognition of life's pointlessness tends to preclude the formation of meaningful relationships, or at least hinder it.
You can either decide nothing is valuable and everything is valuable, and in both cases you would be correct. But the emotional consequences of "nothing is valuable" are harrowing, and it's a rotten way to spend a life, to waste a lifetime rather. The only lifetime you will ever have.
The first thing I will say is that I am not convinced it is possible to waste a lifetime. To see someone's dead body in a casket, it is hard for me to think of even one way they are better off for having lived.
It is not equally correct to say nothing is valuable or everything is valuable, if we are talking about inherent value. Those who say life is sacred and human rights are inalienable are making a positive claim that cannot possibly be verified. What I am calling nihilism is the denial of that claim. It's really no different from theism vs. so-called 'weak atheism.' In another context, you could be a devout believer telling someone that without an appreciation of the divine, the emotional consequences are harrowing, to say nothing of your immortal soul.
So, it's not as simple as 'deciding' to believe that some things are objectively more valuable than others, any more than a depressed atheist can choose to adopt Christianity to improve his mood.