His observations on the prevalence of nihilism and its consequences will surely stand as one of the most enduring legacies of Cornel West's still vibrant career as a public intellectual. West first began addressing nihilism as it impacted the lives of too many African-American citizens in his 1994 work Race Matters. There, he defined nihilism as the "lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness, hopelessness, and (most important) lovelessness." In Democracy Matters, published 10 years later, West would expand the scope of his analysis in describing how three variants of what he calls political nihilism - "the unprincipled abuse of power," in combination with three related "antidemocratic dogmas" are destroying American democracy. Regardless of what form political nihilism takes, the fundamental meaninglessness that underlies what we might call philosophical nihilism characteristic of the "postmodern condition" remains central.
Philosophical nihilism undermines all debate, serious or otherwise, over the meaning of education. Nihilists, after all, deny all meaning. For them, meaning does not reside in things; it is assigned to things. Hence, nihilists would not condone a debate over what the true meaning of education is, though they might consider entering into a debate over what meaning is best assigned to education. To determine which meaning of education is best, nihilists would have to know what purposes one would want to serve in doing so, because, for them, meaning never exists independent from the human will, and the human will to power. In fact, nihilists treat the act of assigning meaning as one of the most fundamental acts of power.
We find this brand of nihilism at the center of the philosophy of Leo Strauss, the intellectual godfather of many of the most powerful figures within the neoconservative movement. This explains, in part, how adroitly his disciples have helped enable themselves and other members of the Bush administration to avoid legal recriminations for their otherwise criminal behavior. If they want to avoid being charged with war crimes for planning and carrying out torture, for example, they proceed by first recasting the meaning of torture. Anything that fails to cause "organ failure," does not meet the standard by which they have legalistically maneuvered to place their acts above the law by situating them within the law. We witnessed similar nihilistic machinations in education over the meaning of "educational research" and "scientifically based." In science education, more specifically, their abuse of the meaning of a "theory" has allowed them to present "intelligent design" as being equally or even more valid as "evolution." Never mind the criteria by which we judge something as a "scientific theory" that must provide some explanation of empirically verifiable facts, the meaning of anything in the hands of a nihilist can mean whatever they want it to mean.
The philosophical nihilism of the neoconservatives becomes even more troubling when combined with what West refers to as their evangelical nihilism - one of the three varieties of political nihilism that he identifies. "The classic expression of evangelical nihilism," West writes,
is found in Plato's Republic in the person of Thrasymachus, the Sophist who argues with Socrates that might makes right. Thrasymachus mocks truth, integrity, and principle by claiming that power, might, and force dictate desirable political action and public policy. Raw power rather than moral principles determines what is right.
As Shadia Drury puts it, the Straussians learned from Thrasymachus that justice is merely that which serves "the interest of the stronger; that those in power make the rules in their own interests and call it justice." As philosophical nihilists, they find no use for moral principles such as truth or integrity in guiding their own actions, including the action of assigning meaning to education. They seek only to serve the interests of the powerful with whom they have aligned themselves. Hence, state power in America today functions almost exclusively as a corporate oligarchy, actively aiding the interests of private wealth in reconfiguring (privatizing) and eliminating legislation and government programs enacted to serve public interests.
On the surface, it would appear paradoxical - if not contradictory - for neoconservatives to be the most aggressive proponents of neoliberal policies. This paradox, however, only testifies to the increasing weakness of our political metaphors. West puts the matter much more succinctly when he describes that agenda as "free-market fundamentalism" - one of the three antidemocratic dogmas that he associates with evangelical nihilism's assault on democracy. Because all three of those dogmas (free-market fundamentalism, "aggressive militarism," and "escalating authoritarianism") serve the interests of power, we can easily predict that they would inform the meaning that neoconservatives, and many neoliberals alike, assign to education.