Nihilism

This chapter examines Kropotkin's understanding of nihilism and uses his sympathetic account of the Russian movement to re-consider his approach to science. It shows how Kropotkin approached nihilism in the 1890s as a critic of Nietzscheanism and as an interpreter of Russian literature and uses his warm appreciations of Turgenev and Chernyshevksy to develop the framework for his analysis of the nihilist movement. One of the striking features of Kropotkin's defence of nihilism is his analysis of the feminist currents within the Russian revolutionary movement. While nihilism shaped Kropotkin's approach to science, the example of women's movement moulded his understanding of ethics and the chapter shows how by illustrating the nihilist themes of his essay, 'An Appeal to the Young'.