Nihilism

Nihilism, in Russia, organised opposition to the established order of society and government; the principles and methods adopted by various secret revolutionary societies in Russia, some of which, however, have left the purely destructive position and become democratic and socialistic rather than merely anarchical. The more violent Nihilists or "terrorists" aim at upsetting the present system by mysterious and appalling outrages, such as the assassination of the Czar Alexander II. (1881). The term originally implied only negation of the principles generally accepted in society in Russia. In metaphysics, scepticism carried as far as the assertion that nothing really exists, has been called Nihilism.