Between the History of Nihilism and the Nihilism of History

Abstract The paper considers the nihilism of history in relation to the concepts of the “crisis of modernity”, “the end of history” and our “contemporary situation”. The problem is that the disposedness of nihilism itself determines our existential and coexistential situation, since it erases its historical horizon. On the other hand, the pressure of the situation demands that we adopt an open attitude towards our own contemporaneity, which includes not only ourselves but also the world between and around us. Finally, in relation to Hegel’s introduction to his Lectures on the History of Philosophy, the question of the immanent historicity of philosophy and the nihilism of history is raised. In this context, I also discuss some of the assumptions of Jon Stewart’s historical-philosophical consideration of nihilism in his book The History of Nihilism in the Nineteenth Century from 2023.