Obereit's Nihilism: Inventing or Diagnosing a Social Sickness?

Abstract
This paper provides an overview of Jakob Hermann Obereit’s introduction of the philosophical term nihilism from 1787 up to 1791. It argues that this introduction is part of a project called the desperate metaphysics, which is partly a response to the reception of Immanuel Kant’s Critique of pure Reason , but also an assessment of the rise of a focus on individual responsibility, development and autonomy that had been put forward during the Enlightenment. In this sense, nihilism is introduced in response to a philosophical discussion that is understood as drawing out the depths of these Enlightenment demands and the untenability of traditional metaphysics, explaining the immediate appeal of the term and its rapid spread beyond philosophy.