On Heidegger’s Reflection And Overcoming Of Nihilism

Each era has its own spiritual problem. In our times, it is nihilism that human beingfind themselves confronting with.However,nihilism came before us.It came into beinglong time ago and survived all the way through.when we realized we are in the middle ofit,it precedes us.After Nietzsche declared the "death of god", nihilism has become the center conceptof philosophy.However, in Nietzsche’s theory,he did not exhaust nihilistic questions.Thecorresponding term of nihilism-existence was understood as "value", which fail to solvethe problem of nihilism.It is Heidegger who made substantial contribution to the study ofnihilism problem.He thinks about nihilism in terms of Being which open a new way forthinking about questions relating to meaning and value.Hence,we can barely ignore him ifwe want to solve the problem of nihilism.In this paper,I will first trace back the origin of the term nihilism and how it becamesthe theme of philosophy.Then I will introduce Nietzsche’s theory on nihilism.He is thefirst one bringing forward the essence of nihilism and emphasizing the meaning of value.Heidegger criticizes Nietzsche and finds his own path.He regards nihilism as “Beingforgotten”. The “forgotten” happens in metaphysics,and it is also because the loss in termsof etymology.In the continuous review of the history,in the process of getting being back,Heidegger also opens up a road to the transcendence of the nihilism. Although in the end,Heidegger does not overcome the problem of nihilism, his questioning of Being hasimportant value and meaning for us to get close to the answer of this question.