This is real philosophy

“Well, I said, there is a story, that is Leontius, the son of Aglaion, coming up one day from Piræus, under the north wall on the outside, observed some dead bodies lying on the ground at the place of execution. He felt a desire to see them, and also a dread and abhorrence of them; for a time he struggled and covered his eyes, but at length the desire got the better of him; and forcing them open, he ran up to the dead bodies, saying, Look, ye wretches, take your fill of the fair sight” Plato Republic 440a book 4

That's what it is all about. When Heidegger wrote to one of his lady friends that "My philosophy is a philosophy of the night" he mean it. I think that reflects a profound understanding of the questions we should be asking ourselves. Philosophy reveals to us the nature of the world, the groundless of truth and ethics, of even the impossibility of defining our own being. It is dark. It is not nihilism though. Don't fall into that trap. Nihilism is a desire to no longer think, to be told and to accept blindly. That is the ultimate nihilism. It is a desire to no longer be human. Humans are humans in that they question their own existence. Perhaps the question is the ultimate weapon against nihilism, though it does itself have a destructive character.

The look into the abyss of being, of freedom, not in the flimsy french trendy sense, but in the Heideggerian awe and fear of the abyss. That is the philosophy of which I speak. It is the antithesis of nihilism. Perhaps it is the only way to stand up to the abyss. Stare back into it. I shan't quote the oft quoted Fred here, but we have to look. Don't turn away.