Nietzsche on the Eternal Recurrence
Nietzsche on the Eternal Recurrence
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The idea of the eternal recurrence is that we will live the exact same lives again an infinite number of times. Nietzsche appreciates that this would multiply the value of a single life by infinity, justifying intense emotional responses. His unpublished notes provide a cosmological argument for the eternal recurrence that anticipates Poincaré's recurrence theorem. Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra describes its hero discovering this idea and struggling to accept the recurrence of all bad things. He eventually comes to love the eternal recurrence because it will bring back all the joys of his life, and teaches this idea to others.
Product details
- Published: January 2025
- Format: Hardback
- ISBN: 9781009517478
- Length: 76 pages
- Dimensions: 235 × 159 × 11 mm
- Weight: 0.26kg
- Availability: Available
Table of Contents
- 1. The introduction of infinities
- 2. Gay Science 341, 'The greatest weight', considers infinite value
- 3. The argument of KSA 11:11:38[12] anticipates Poincaré's theorem
- 4. 'The Soothsayer' envisions the dark side of eternal recurrence
- 5. 'On Redemption' tells of the will's struggle with the past
- 6. 'The Stillest Hour' struggles to speak of infinite negative value
- 7. 'On The Vision and the Riddle' envisions the cosmology
- 8. 'The Convalescent' has animals proclaiming recurrence
- 9. 'The Other Dancing Song' expresses love of life
- 10. 'Once More' and 'The Drunken Song' sing of infinities
- 11. 'The Seven Seals' proposes marriage to Eternity
- 12. Part IV pits Zarathustra against the soothsayer
- 13. 'The Ass Festival' celebrates worldly value
- Notes on Texts, Translations, and Abbreviations
- Works Cited.
- Show more
