THE PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF NIHILISM AND SPIRITISM EXPLAINED ACCORDING TO THE CONFLICT BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Abstract

From the well-known clash between religion and science in post-Enlightenment culture, the typical polarization of conflicts allowed diametrically opposed proposals to grow, both of them perfectly aware of the problem that gave them birth. Invigorated by the cultural quarrel with religion, many intellectuals invested in theories more in harmony with scientific mentality, such as natural theology, materialism, agnosticism and learned spiritualisms. Nihilism and Spiritism are classical examples of the dramatic developments of this crisis of European consciousness, with considerable influence on the educated classes in Latin America. This paper, therefore, presents the philosophical essence of such proposals. In harmony with the philosophical atmosphere of the nineteenth century, both proposals emphasized the logical consequences of their premises and metaphysical grounding for the drama of human existence. Also, according to the historical context of the cultural clash between religion and science, however, both proposals mistakenly assumed the idea of the obsolesce of metaphysics, only admitting their metaphysical foundation from a backdoor, under labels such as “positive philosophy”, “scientific worldview” and “fact based philosophy”. The present paper, therefore, will expose the philosophical essence of these proposals.