Among the antecedents of nihilism, Gorgias is attributed an absolute nihilism (nothing exists: if something existed, it could not be known; if something could be known, it could not be communicated).
The feeling of hopelessness that emerges in 19th century Russia after Alexander II's reforms was also called nihilism. In this case, the Nihilists intended to break the tradition and found a science-based society inspired by Comte. It was therefore a break with previous romanticism . Then the nihilists went into political action and were therefore sometimes confused with anarchists. But in Nietzsche, nihilism will be defined according to the will to power. When this will, the essence of life, diminishes, passive nihilism arises, decadence.
Nietzsche tried to overcome Western metaphysics, but only brought subjectivism to his roof. Because his concept of 'will of power' means that man only wants and asserts himself unlimitedly and the formula of that self-affirmation is consolidated in the 'eternal return' thus consummating the 'forgetfulness of being'. Heideggerwill then resume this idea by turning man into the 'lord of the entity'.