The problem of Nihilism in Nietzsche and Heidegger

Nihilism, in the broadest sense, is the name of the crisis that human being gets into when she/he gives meaning to life and herself/himself. Although it has many various forms, nihilism first has an existential character depending on the problem of meaning. Second, nihilism is historical and inherent in European culture and thought. Therefore, it is an event that includes in philosophy, modern sciences and religions (in particular Christianity). When viewed from this aspect, the crisis of nihilism, which reached up to its most extreme point in the experience of modernity, is formulated as a problem that has been started to be dwelled on much more in the 19th century. For this century carries deep traces of all the historical background of the previous two hundered and fifity years in which the relationship of human being with the earth has changed radically. Nietzsche is one of the thinkers who comprehend these traces most deeply in the 19th century and the other is Heidegger in 20th century. The aim of this work, by means of focusing on both Nietzsche's and Heidegger's thought, is to reveal how the problem of nihilism is discussed existenatially and historically by them and to present what possibilities have been put forward to overcome it. For that purpose, in the first part of the work, Nietzsche's conception of nihilism was examined throughout his texts and thus historical dimension of nihilism was tried to be shown from ancient thought to modern science. The way that Nietzsche approached to this problem and the prominent aspects of his strategy to overcome it are presented. In the second part of the work, it is shown how Heidegger determines the problem of nihilism in general through the question of Being and the way that he discusses some basic motifs of Western metaphysics as its historical context is explained. While Heidegger considers Western thought from Plato to Nietzsche as the history of nihilism, he expands to the discussion of nihilism by unveiling the nihilistic character of modern technology and develops a preparatory thinking by showing possibilities of poetic thinking. Despite the fact that Nietzsche and Heidegger differentiate at many points, the response of both thinkers to the problem lies in effort to seek new ways of thinking and to identify the role of the horizon of art within this effort. Life can only be affirmed as art and Being can only be remembered through poetic thinking.