Nietzsche on Steroids:

The Link Between Nihilistic Tendencies

and Dwindling Spiritualism in Modern Medical

Issues and Their Connection to Literature

Brooke Garduno

ACU Undergraduate Research Festival

April 12, 2022

Abilene High School

The Question(s):

Has the isolation from spiritually social structures, brought on by modern medical issues, led to an increase in nihilistic thought?

AND

How does this increase in nihilism connect to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s writings and works of literature?

Table of Contents:

Introduction

01

Important Topics

02

Methodology

03

As Seen in Literature

04

Application in the Real World

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05

Conclusions

06

A first look at the topic and its relevance in present day

Clarifications on terminology, such as “Nihilism” and “Socially Spiritual Structures”

Description of research methods and their applications

Connection to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Literature

A look at modern medical issues of past and present

Closing remarks and final connections

Introduction

01

A first look at the topic and its relevance in present day

Relevance:

Limiting Factors:

Why I Chose the Topic…

• Mid-pandemic, though on the downward slope
• Unknown effect of virus in the long run
• Physical implications
• Mental implications
• Evident across the typical boundaries of humanity

• High school student
• Means and resources
• Ability to receive aid
• Time

• Ongoing Covid-19 pandemic resulted in an increase of Nietzschean nihilistic thought
• What caused the increase specifically?
• Research available on all 4 major factors
• Specific gap in knowledge falls under the fourth factor
• “Separation from Faith Related Groups and Activities”

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• Focusing on mental health and psychological implications placed on individuals during medical disasters
• Ex. Covid-19, Ebola, and Leprosy
• Separation from churches or religious institutions, due to safety measures meant to protect against the virus, increased mental health problems by removing a major coping mechanism and support system

Lack of

preparation

Implications of Social Distancing

Separation from Faith Related Groups and Activities

?

Low trust in vaccines/medicine

Important Topics

02

Clarifications on terminology, such as “Nihilism” and “Socially Spiritual Structures”

Nihilism

Socially Spiritual Structures

• Denying the existence of genuine moral truths or values

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• Rejecting the possibility of knowledge or communication

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• Asserting the ultimate meaninglessness or purposelessness of life or of the universe

• Anything religiously affiliated or relating to the act of worship in whatever sense the person practices

Methodology

03

Description of research methods and their applications

​

Correlational

Research:

Delphi

Research:

• Drawing comparisons between scientific data
• Past medical issues vs. Current Research on Covid-19
• Psychological lense
• Connections between literature and real world
• Dostoevsky’s nihilistic literature

• Discussions and collaboration with mentor and her staff
• Primarily revolved around data analysis
• Pandemic’s impact on individuals within Abilene and the surrounding communities

As Seen in Literature

04

Connection to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Literature

​

Overview:

• Viewing the problem at hand in its original form
• Fyodor Dostoevsky, known for his psychological fiction novels
• Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov
• Both follow realistic, though morbid, storylines (could be replicated in an array of settings, time periods, and cultures)
• Detachment between real life and literature is seemingly thin
• Allows for an understanding of the physical world
• Connection between fiction and reality
• Applying Dostoevsky’s existential epistemology

The Brothers

Karamazov

• Main Overview
• Presence of Nihilism
• Connection to Spiritually Social Structures and Impact

Crime and Punishment

• Main Overview
• Presence of Nihilism
• Connection to Spiritually Social Structures and Impact

Application in the Real World

05

A look at modern medical issues of past and present

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• Dostoevsky’s epistemology can still be pitted against the prevalent issue of increasing nihilistic thought.

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• Study is performed upon 1,046 Brazilian adults pre-pandemic, highlighting that different combinations of religiousness and spirituality will result in varying levels of improvement to the quality of one’s life.
• Analyzed quality of life, depressive symptoms, anxiety, optimism and happiness among adults
• Overall, the greater the level of spirituality and religiousness in a person, the greater their quality of life is

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• Interesting to compare with similar studies from mid-pandemic

Introduction:

Progression Throughout Time

• Evaluation of human remains and objects from the past denotes a connection between mankind that surpasses previous times

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• Article works to accidentally highlight the presence of nihilistic ideals in the absence of humanitarian acts

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• Idea of the “human response”

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• Ebola and connection

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• Leprosy and connection

Pandemic of Today

• Interaction with mortality and the meaning of life comes to a head as nihilism begins to circulate throughout the country and world with greater presence

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• Psychological effects of worldwide isolation, patterns can be seen in connection with medical issues of times past

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• Two avenues have been chosen that effectively connect to our gap in knowledge regarding spirituality
• “access” and “isolation” from spiritually social structures

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• Effect on the mental health of patients will denote the true influence of each as an instigator of the modern nihilistic tendencies appearing throughout the pandemic

Access vs Isolation

Spiritually Social Structures

• Researching the increase in nihilistic thought as a result of isolation from spiritually social structures

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• True and proven that interactions with a spiritually social structure during the height of the pandemic and on lead to better mental health and either a decrease or no appearance in nihilistic thought (ACCESS)

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• Low spirits and waning mental health are typically connected with the separation from spiritually social structures (ISOLATION)

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• Various studies to show these tendencies

Conclusions

06

Closing remarks and final connections

• Research brought to light interesting perspectives

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• Cannot serve as the sole evidence for the increase in nihilistic thought in religious/spiritual people being as a result of isolation from socially spiritual structures

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• Despite this, the correlational research done provides a relatively high level of confidence
• Pairs nicely with the survey that is in the works.

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• Noticeable connection between Dostoevsky’s literary works that were dealing with nihilism and the idea of spiritualism’s use as a counteractant

Therefore…

Due to the similarities drawn from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s literature and the acknowledgement that in the presence of spiritually social structures subjects were better equipped to handle the physical and psychological strains put on them, it is reasonable to infer that an increase in nihilistic ideals in self-deeming religious or spiritual people that accompanies medical disasters, such as the current pandemic, is being initiated through dwindling spiritualism as a result of isolation.

Nothing matters, and I am all alone in this world.

I have a place in this world and have found a community of people that support me.

01

02

Isolation from Spiritually Social Structures

Community Within Socially Spiritual Structures

Nihilism →

← Nihilism

• Friedrich Nietzsche

“[T]ogether with the fear of man we have also lost the love of man, reverence for man, confidence in man, indeed the will to man. Now the sight of man makes us weary. What is nihilism today if not that?”

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References:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. (2020, March 13). Nihilism. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/nihilism

Dostoyevsky, F., & Katz, M. R. (2019). Crime and Punishment. Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton and Company.

Dostoevsky, F. M., Pevear, R., & Volokhonsky, L. (2002). The Brothers Karamazov: A Novel in Four Parts with Epilogue. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Hamilton, J. B., Best, N. C., Barney, T. A., Worthy, V. C., & Phillips, N. R. (2021, February 17). Using Spirituality to Cope with COVID-19: The Experiences of African American Breast Cancer Survivors- Journal of Cancer Education. SpringerLink. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13187-021-01974-8

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Heitzig, S. (2020, May 1). The Biblically Quarantined Life. CT Pastors. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/2020/may-web-exclusives/ biblically-quarantined-life.html

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Lucchetti, G., Góes, L. G., Amaral, S. G., Ganadjian, G. T., Andrade, I., Almeida, P. O. de A., do Carmo, V. M., & Manso, M. E. G. (2021, September). Spirituality, Religiosity and the Mental Health Consequences of Social Isolation During COVID-19 Pandemic. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7649649/

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Roberts, C., Wrobel, G. D., & Westaway, M. (2021, October 14). What the Archaeological Record Reveals About Epidemics Throughout History – and the Human Response to Them. The Conversation. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://theconversation.com/ what-the-archaeological-record-reveals-about-epidemics-throughout- history-and-the-human-response-to-them-138408

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Thomas Nelson. (2010). The Holy Bible: New King James Version.

Vitorino, L. M., Lucchetti, G., Leão, F. C., Vallada, H., & Peres, M. F. P. (2018, November 22). The Association Between Spirituality and Religiousness and Mental Health. Nature News. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598- 018-35380-w

Winiger, F. (2020, July 20). "More Than an Intensive Care Phenomenon": Religious Communities and the WHO Guidelines for Ebola and Covid-19. De Gruyter. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/spircare-2020 -0066/html

Woolfolk, A. (1989). The Two Switchmen of Nihilism: Dostoevsky and Nietzsche. Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/24780454

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Thank you

for your time!

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