Nihilism is a paradoxical belief. It argues that nothing matters, but yet anyone who holds to that violates its principle because without exception, they themselves value that belief.
That aside, it is also used predominantly as a get-out-of-jail-free card in debates. The so-called nihilist's argument is easily refuted, so he simply declares that it doesn't matter anyways.
It has interesting implications if taken very lightly, however. It can be used to say that value only comes from within oneself, and as such can be used to create values of deeper significance to an individual than a pre existing "traditional" system would. This, however, is not something anyone ever uses it for.
