Nietzsche and Eternal Recurrence

✍ Scribed by Bevis E. McNeil

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2020
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 235
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book examines the cogency and value of Nietzsche’s idea of eternal recurrence, as an antidote to the nihilism resulting from the catastrophic event of ‘the death of God’. Its significance to Nietzsche’s philosophy as a whole (when presented either as an imaginative thought experiment, a cosmological hypothesis, or a poetic metaphor) is analysed, alongside the manifold criticisms the idea has attracted.

In this original reading of eternal recurrence, McNeil explores the strength of metaphorical meaning contained within Heraclitean and Stoic cosmologies, revealing their influence on Nietzsche’s own cosmology, along with their holistic approach to life which Nietzsche endorsed.  Furthermore, an extensive critique of Heidegger’s interpretation of eternal recurrence is given. McNeil argues that Heidegger ignores not only the life-affirming Dionysian aspects of the concept, but also the Heraclitean sense of play evident in the cosmology, and the importance of this for developing a positive, celebratory attitude towards our lives and creative projects.

✦ Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Contents
Abbreviations
Chapter 1: Nietzsche and the Idea of Eternal Recurrence
1.1 Introduction
1.2 The Problem of Nihilism
1.3 The Eternal Recurrence as the Antidote to the Problem of Nihilism
1.4 The Eternal Recurrence as an Imaginative Thought Experiment in The Gay Science
1.5 The Eternal Recurrence as a Cosmological Hypothesis in the Nachlass
1.6 Eternal Recurrence and Ancient Greek Philosophy
1.7 The Eternal Recurrence in Opposition to the Linear Christian Timeline
1.8 The Eternal Recurrence as a Poetic Metaphor in Thus Spoke Zarathustra
1.9 Overcoming the Spirit of Revenge in Thus Spoke Zarathustra
1.10 Conclusion
Chapter 2: Nietzsche’s Cosmology of Eternal Recurrence
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The Cosmology of Eternal Recurrence in Opposition to the Linear Christian Timeline
2.3 Criticisms of Nietzsche’s Cosmology of Eternal Recurrence
2.3.1 Introduction
2.3.2 Simmel on the Incoherency of Nietzsche’s Cosmology of Eternal Recurrence
2.3.3 In Defence of Recurrence-Awareness
2.3.4 Evidence for the Reality of Eternal Recurrence in The Gay Science and Thus Spoke Zarathustra
2.3.5 The Transformative Significance of Eternal Recurrence and the Problems of Recurrence Fatalism and Indifference to the Doctrine
2.4 Nietzsche, Ancient Greek Philosophy and Eternal Recurrence
2.4.1 Introduction
2.4.2 The Significance of the Conflagration
2.4.3 The Three Central Stoic Theses
2.4.4 Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics
2.4.5 Cosmologies of Eternal Recurrence, Thermodynamics and the Conservation of Energy
2.5 Conclusion
Chapter 3: Heidegger’s Interpretation of Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Eternal Recurrence
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The Genesis and Significance of the Thought of Eternal Recurrence
3.3 The First Communication of Eternal Recurrence in The Gay Science
3.4 The Tragedy Begins
3.5 The Second Communication of Eternal Recurrence in Thus Spoke Zarathustra
3.6 On the Vision and the Riddle
3.7 The Convalescent
3.8 The Eternal Recurrence, the Will to Power and the Overhuman as Different Expressions of the Same Thought
3.9 Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Eternal Recurrence as the Culmination of Western Metaphysics and Nihilism
3.10 Conclusion
Chapter 4: Nietzsche contra Heidegger: On the Importance of Heraclitean Play for Eternal Recurrence and the Overhuman
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The Reign of the Ascetic Ideal
4.3 Metaphysics, Christianity and Otherworldliness
4.4 The Problem of Being
4.5 Heraclitus, the Cosmology of Eternal Recurrence and the Metaphor of Play
4.6 Dionysus and Eternal Recurrence
4.7 Conclusion
Bibliography
Index