Weltgeist

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WATCH:
▶ Why Nietzsche Loved Thucydides: https://youtu.be/XI2dVkHoG7Q

OUR ANALYSES:
▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk
▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c
▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI
▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA
▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8
▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA
▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_I

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 A strange discovery
03:16 Aeschylus
06:30 Plato’s Republic
10:36 The Melian Dialogue
14:11 The Riace Bronzes

Music:
"Devastation and Revenge"
"Drums of the Deep"
"Suonatore di Liuto"
by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos:
▶ https://www.patreon.com/WeltgeistYT

WATCH:
▶ Why Nietzsche Loved Dostoevsky: https://youtu.be/k6b6aTMw6iM

OUR ANALYSES:
▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk
▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c
▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI
▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA
▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8
▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA
▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_I

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Introduction
03:09 Décadence
05:23 The slave revolt in morals
08:57 The auto-domestication of man
11:16 The birth of décadence
12:17 The criminal
17:19 Dostoevsky's House of the Dead
19:26 The exceptions

It's a short passage in Twilight of the Ideals where Nietzsche deals with the criminal and his psychological valuation of him. But in order to fully comprehend Nietzsche unorthodox sociology and psychology of the criminal, we need to take deep dive through his entire philosophy, and visit The Genealogy of Morals as well as The Antichrist.

Décadence and the morality of custom take center stage as Nietzsche sketches a sociology where society domesticates man. It suppresses our violent instincts so that society can run smoothly. Better to be cooperative, well-spoken, polite, than an aggressive, violent brute.

But the suppression of these animalistic drives in man comes at a cost: it fosters a disease which Nietzsche dubbed décadence, and all of society, through the long march of history from the paleolithic, through Christianity, to now, has become sick with it.

Only some individuals retain a bit of their primal strength. Not fully internalized, not fully externalized. That is the criminal: the strong man made sick.

Nietzsche puts traditional sociology on its head: rather than the criminal being the odd one out, being the exception, Nietzsche says society is the exception, society is the sick one, the criminal the healthy one. Only that he has become sick because his environment is sick.

The criminal who loses the fight against society, succumbs to it, and internalizes his aggression and develops a bad conscience. But some individuals are so strong that they aren't changed by society -- they change society.

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Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos:
▶ https://www.patreon.com/WeltgeistYT

OUR ANALYSES:
▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk
▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c
▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI
▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA
▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8
▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA
▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_I

In Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche opens up the chapter "The Problem of Socrates" with a bold statement: he calls him ugly.

By itself that's not really a controversial statement: Socrates's unsightly physique is well-attested in ancient sources, and Socrates himself (with a dint of his trademark irony) even agrees with detractors who insult his looks. (His bulging crab-like eyes, for example, allow him to take a broader view of the world than those with normal, forward-facing eyes can... he says to his friend Crito.)

What's so provocative about Nietzsche's statement is not the statement itself but rather that he uses it as an argument against Socrates. Isn't that the classic example of an ad hominem attack? You're ugly therefore you're wrong?

But Nietzsche goes deeper into it and uses the ugliness of Socrates as a springboard to critique ancient Greek culture - how Socrates and the Socrates Revolution was a symptom of decadence, of the ancient pre-Socratic Greeks losing their noble tastes, allowing themselves to be seduced by reason, allowing Socrates to convince them that from now on, they needed good reasons, solid arguments, for their way of life. The happy instinct of the powerful, that needs no justification beyond itself, now stood in need of a justification: good reasons were required for your beliefs.

And the Greeks had Socrates to thank for that.

For Nietzsche, this is not a sign of philosophical enlightenment, but a sign of decay, of decadence, of a loss of strength; of weakness.

Moreover, with Socrates, the way was paved for Plato, and his world-changing distinction between appearance and reality. The Greeks used to judge books by their covers, and Plato changed that. Now, there is this rotten, fallen, imperfect material world juxtaposed with a perfect World of Forms. For the pre-Socratic Greeks, this idea was not as forceful as it is today: appearance WAS reality.

And only ugly Socrates, who could not compete with the strong, healthy, noble Greeks on physical terms, had to invent a kind of mental challenge: the tyranny of reason, and the prelude to the World of Forms where reason would reign supreme over all the rest. Mind over body, reason over instinct, idea over reality.

This video was sponsored by Brilliant.

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Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos:
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OUR ANALYSES:
▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk
▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c
▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI
▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA
▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8
▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA
▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_I

Music used:
"Mesmerizing Galaxy", "Lightless Dawn", "Minima" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Welcome to the first part of our series on the famous Will to Power. We will tackle this elusive concept of Nietzsche in three parts.

This first part will serve as an introduction of sorts. We’ll go over Nietzsche’s intellectual background, most importantly the influence of Schopenhauer and Darwinism. We will also look at the question of interpretation: is the Will to Power a metaphysical principle or simply a human drive or emotion?

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St. Anselm of Canterbury was an Italian Benedictine monk who lived in the 11th century AD. Chiefly known for his so-called ontological proof of God, he also wrote other theological treatises such as "Why God Became Man".
This video explores the theological significance of Christmas. Why did God become human? What was the point?

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Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos:
▶ https://www.patreon.com/WeltgeistYT

OUR ANALYSES:
▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk
▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c
▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI
▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA
▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8
▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA
▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_I

Music used:
"Mesmerizing Galaxy", "Lightless Dawn", "Minima" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit https://brilliant.org/Weltgeist/ . You’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos:
▶ https://www.patreon.com/WeltgeistYT

OUR ANALYSES:
▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk
▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c
▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI
▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA
▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8
▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA
▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_I

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Introduction
02:56 Insanity and censored works
05:24 The Law against Christianity
07:57 Philosophy of Insanity?
10:00 First proposition
14:09 Second proposition
25:53 Third proposition
26:26 Fourth proposition
32:14 Fifth proposition
34:17 Sixth proposition
40:38 Seventh proposition

Nietzsche's The Antichrist was written in 1888 but only published 6 years later. Publication was delayed because not long after writing the work, Nietzsche started writing his so-called "insanity letters" (Wahnbriefe) to friends, which caused them concern for his mental well-being. He signs these letters as either The Crucified One or Dionysus, and claims (among other things) he has created the world and that the Pope should be shot.

His friends are concerned and send him to the doctor while they take control over the manuscript of The Antichrist. The book would not see publications for over half a decade.

Ostensibly, because they thought this book was written while Nietzsche was already mentally unwell and that therefore, it shouldn't be considered a serious work of philosophy of his. But actually, the book itself is very straightforward, sets out arguments in a neat, orderly manner -- totally unlike his later insanity letters. No, the book was more than likely withheld because of its radical anti-Christian contents.

The final page of the book, a declaration of a "Law against Christianity" was initially omitted from the work because it was thought to be a separate note that wasn't necessarily intended to be included. Later scholarship has proven that this enigmatic final page should indeed be part of the Antichrist, but even today many editions lack this concluding section of the work.

It was suppressed for its radical tone and anti-Christian sentiment. Why? Nietzsche is, characteristically for this period, hyperbolic and radical. He lists seven propositions, policy proposals, that together make up his "Law against Christianity."

In summary, they are:

1) Priests should be locked up
2) Church services are an attack on public morality
3) The birthplace of Christianity should be razed to the ground
4) Chastity is anti-nature
5) Associating with priests should be a crime
6) Words like “God”, “savior” and “redeemer” should be used as insults, fit for criminals
7) All the rest follows from this.

This video takes a deeper dive into each proposition Nietzsche wrote down here, and examines them in the light of his earlier philosophy. Was this final page the work of a madman, writing on the edge of insanity, or does it follow logically from his earlier work?

This video was sponsored by Brilliant.

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The philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer has often been cited as a textbook example of philosophical pessimism. Yet, strangely enough, Schopenhauer himself never refers to either himself, or his writings, as pessimistic. Even stranger, Schopenhauer has often been called a hypocrite for having a pessimistic philosophy while also enjoying fine dining in Frankfurt restaurants, frequent trips to the opera, and affairs with women. As Nietzsche famously remarked (in Beyond Good and Evil), he played the flute every night -- is this a pessimist? In this video we take a dive into Schopenhauer's main work, The World as Will and Representation, and we find out if he can be truly called a "pessimist"... and in what sense.

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WATCH:
Nietzsche Explained: Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk
Nietzsche Explained: On the Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI

This is one of the most dense chapters in Friedrich Nietzsche's entire works. It details in little more than 200 words, the entire history of metaphysics in the Western tradition, from the perspective of Nietzsche's philosophy of the Hinterwelt (the beyond-world, or metaphysics in general). Beginning with Plato, stopping by Christianity, Kant, and the positivists like Auguste Comte, and culminating in Nietzsche and Zarathustra, as represented in Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

This video deals with a single chapter from Nietzsche's "Twilight of the Idols", one of his later works. In effect, it's a very concise summary of the entirety of the Genealogy of Morals, while much of the alluded-to "philosophy of the future" is explained in his other major work: Beyond Good and Evil.

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Books mentioned:
▶ Gracián audiobook: https://amzn.to/458iCWb
▶ Gracián paperback: https://amzn.to/3MXpaAu
▶ Rilke audiobook: https://amzn.to/3Yc8lV1
▶ Rilke paperback: https://amzn.to/45rn9Tq
▶ Bonus: Rilke Selected Poems audiobook: https://amzn.to/4pf25a4

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▶ https://www.patreon.com/WeltgeistYT

Thumbnail inspiration: https://youtu.be/92tVm7VSlic

GOETHE RECOMMENDATIONS:
▶ All-In One Dramatization (free w/ trial: Werther, Faust, & more): https://amzn.to/48tHcTu
▶ The Essential Goethe: https://amzn.to/4pmYur7
▶ The Sorrows of Young Werther: https://amzn.to/4pVbKmM
▶ Goethe: Life as a Work of Art by Rüdiger Safranski: https://amzn.to/3KvJf03
▶ Also as audiobook (free with trial): https://amzn.to/4a3jzlR
▶ Faust performance on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qaogjXLdPow
▶ Faust performance on DVD (careful to pick the right DVD option US/EU): https://amzn.to/3Mwwp21
▶ Conversations with Goethe by Eckermann: https://amzn.to/48XAp4m

OUR ANALYSES:
▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk
▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c
▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI
▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA
▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8
▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA
▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_I

At no cost to you, if you get an Audible Premium membership through the links posted here, I'll make a small commission. Thank you for supporting the channel!

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Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil is one of the most important works in Western philosophy. Written in 1886, it represented Nietzsche's attempt to elucidate ideas first written about in Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra). Unfortunately, the book is also very difficult and widely misunderstood. This video attempts to set the stage for a deeper understanding of this seminal work of German philosophy.
In this first part, we explore the significance of the title, Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, and we introduce the concept of the "philosophical prejudice" which is the main theme of the work. Nietzsche believed "other philosophers" (all those who came before him; notably Descartes, Kant, Plato, Schopenhauer and the Stoics) suffered, unbeknownst to them, from hidden presuppositions. Nietzsche, the philosopher with the hammer, seeks to destroy these presuppositions and lead the charge in the creation of a new philosophy of the future.
In this part we mainly discuss Nietzsche's treatment of Descartes famous "cogito ergo sum", "I think, therefore I am" argument. In later parts we will discuss the Will to Power and other Nietzschean philosophical concepts.

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Download the essay: https://weltgeist.tv/reading
Arthur Schopenhauer's famous essay "On Books and Reading" is actually more about NOT reading. Schopenhauer offers us six rules for reading books. Here is some reading advice from one of the greatest thinkers in history and philosophy... Enjoy.

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DOWNLOAD THE ESSAY: http://weltgeist.tv/style
Please like and subscribe if you found this video helpful.

Schopenhauer is well-known for his clear and lucid writing style, a rare accomplishment in the field of philosophy, and even more rare in German philosophy. What is the secret to his style?

Thankfully, he has blessed us with an essay on exactly this topic. In this video we’re sharing the tips Schopenhauer wrote down for us in his essay “On Authorship and Style.”

First tip: Have something to say
Second tip: Keep it concise
Third tip: Don’t write for money
Fourth tip: Think before you write
Fifth tip: Choose a good title
Sixth tip: Form over matter
Seventh tip: Find your own voice

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Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos:
▶ https://www.patreon.com/WeltgeistYT

WATCH:
▶ Ancient Greece Was a Lot More Violent Than You Think. Here’s Why. https://youtu.be/a4cbNXGOa24

OUR ANALYSES:
▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk
▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c
▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI
▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA
▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8
▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA
▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_I

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos:
▶ https://www.patreon.com/WeltgeistYT

OUR ANALYSES:
▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk
▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c
▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI
▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA
▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8
▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA
▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_I

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Introduction
00:35: Heinrich von Kleist
02:53 Immanuel Kant
05:12 Kant the All-Destroyer
08:11 Kleist and Kant
14:26 Now what?

Heinrich von Kleist was a German writer who engaged with Kant’s philosophy. Convinced that metaphysics, and thus meaning, were impossible, he ended his life. “My sole and highest aim has vanished. Now I have none.”

In 1801, German writer and playwright Heinrich von Kleist first came into contact with the Kantian philosophy. His critique of reason and its limits made a lasting impression on him. The young Kleist had been obsessed with finding the answers to the great questions of life, and in the Age of Enlightenment, Reason seemed to conquer all.

However, Immanuel Kant published his Critique of Pure Reason in 1791, and argued that we cannot make definite judgements about the world-in-itself. Our knowledge must be confined to the phenomenon, not the noumenon. For Kleist, this was an admission that humanity’s highest goal would forever be out of reach: the answer to the meaning of life.

Life seemed meaningless to him now, truth impossible, hope useless. In his despair, he ended his life.

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Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos:
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WATCH:
▶ Why Nietzsche Hated Socrates: https://youtu.be/DM78nStythg

OUR ANALYSES:
▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk
▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c
▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI
▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA
▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8
▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA
▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_I

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Introduction
02:28 Apollo and Dionysus
08:41 The Chorus
16:27 A glimpse of horror
21:02 A spoonful of sugar
24:05 The death of tragedy
26:05 Euripides
34:14 Socrates
41:03 Richard Wagner
49:03 Beyond the Birth of Tragedy
55:02 Conclusion

The Birth of Tragedy is Nietzsche’s first major work. It immediately split public opinion in half: hated by the academic world, embraced by the artistic world.

Heavily drawing on the influence of Arthur Schopenhauer, it features the twin concepts of the Apollonian and Dionysian as creative drives in the human spirit. Apollonian art representing individuality, restraint, delineation; plastic arts, as opposed to the Dionysian; exuberant, formless, ecstasy, emotion; musical arts.

Both of these creative forces reach an equilibrium in Greek tragedy. This work deals with how Greek tragedy came to be (borne from the Greek chorus), how tragedy died (featuring also one of Nietzsche’s earliest critiques of Socrates) and how tragedy can be reborn (through the Gesamtkunstwerk of Richard Wagner.)

Although this work put Nietzsche on the map, he would later disavow much of its ideas while saving others. In particular, he would become disillusioned with Wagner’s art and turn against his former idol Schopenhauer. The metaphysics underpinning the entire work would also be discarded.

He revisioned his ideas on the nature of (Greek) pessimism and the role of art in a culture. Republished fourteen years after the original with a new foreword which includes a self-criticism, the work attained a unique place in Nietzsche’s larger body of work and philosophy.

Still, the Birth of Tragedy stands as an influential work, if not in philosophy, definitely in art history and aesthetics.

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To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit https://brilliant.org/Weltgeist/ . You’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos:
▶ https://www.patreon.com/WeltgeistYT

OUR ANALYSES:
▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk
▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c
▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI
▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA
▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8
▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA
▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_I

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Introduction
03:10 Nietzsche the psychologist
09:40 Nietzsche the Greek
25:01 Into the abyss
30:44 A psychology of the future
42:23 Nietzsche and cruelty
52:50 Zarathustra speaks

"He who fights monsters, should see to it that he doesn't become a monster himself. And if you stare long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

This is one of most famous yet mysterious quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche. What does it mean? In this video, we try to offer an exposition of this aphorism, according to Nietzsche's own dictum that an aphorism is not understood at first reading, but requires an "art of exposition."

Nietzsche claims that he is the only psychologist so far who has dared to venture into the depths of the human soul. Western society being so strongly influenced by Platonism and Christianity that we cannot look beyond our naive belief in opposites: good versus evil, truth vs lie, egoism versus altruism.

He harkens back to a pre-Platonic view of looking at the world, in the manner of the Homeric Greeks, before Plato and his "Egyptianism" sought to capture Being in neat concepts (ideas) instead preferring a Heraclitean way of looking at things: reality and nature being in an eternal flux of Becoming.

Such a worldview would go Beyond Good and Evil and beyond the naive belief in antinomies, and would pave the way for a new psychology of the depths, a psychology that reckons honestly with the dark side within the human soul rather than explaining it away as the result of ignorance or an imperfect representation of some Platonic Ideal, a corrupt copy of a copy of "the Good."

No, says Nietzsche, the monster at bottom of many a human soul must be confronted honestly, and reckoned with as part of human nature. Only then will we be able to make way for the coming of the Superman.

As Zarathustra says, mankind needs to become more evil.

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Eternalised's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb79IM0UcJM

If we read the book the Will to Power, which is really a compilation of notes, released after Nietzsche’s death, and compiled by his sister, a different picture of the Eternal Recurrence comes to light. We see an attempt by Nietzsche to offer a kind of materialist framework in which the Eternal Recurrence is not merely a thought-experiment, but an actual state of affairs.

The problem is, that this compilation of notes is not generally viewed as a canonical work by Nietzsche. That is to say, scholars disagree on whether or not the ideas in this work truly represent Nietzsche’s own views. There is considerable debate as to the influence of his sister in the compilation of these notes. Did she make changes? Did she make things up? Did she add a word or sentence here and there? For the purposes of this video, we will not concern ourselves with these questions, but as we go on, it’s important to keep this in mind.

The entire final chapter of The Will to Power is devoted to the Eternal Recurrence. 14 notes in total deal with the subject. They present a radically different picture of the Eternal Recurrence than we saw in Nietzsche’s earlier writings.

We see how the concept of the Eternal Recurrence has become more than a thought experiment, as it was first formulated in The Joyful Science and Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

If we take this conception of the universe as a fact, it follows that the universe was not created, but that it has always existed. It implies time is not linear, but cyclical.

The cyclical nature of time is found in other systems of thought, notably in Eastern religion, but also in Norse mythology and Greek philosophy – notably with the Pythagoreans. In fact, the conception of time as linear has only really been found in one religion: the Judeo-Christian one which has since come to dominate Western thought.

Because of this, Nietzsche finds with his new conception of the Eternal Recurrence another breaking point with Christian values. By asserting the cyclical nature of time as an actual reality instead of a thought experiment, he can deliver another blow to the Christian worldview, which fits into his greater project of bringing about a transvaluation of values.

The point is that Nietzsche has found a physical basis, not just a theoretical or moral basis, to assign a positive value to the material world.

If everything repeats itself and comes back again for all eternity, then this present moment, this material world of ours, becomes of great importance. Every moment is eternal. Every single experience of your life is now part of the absolute, part of a perpetual cycle.

Our life is not just “a lightning flash between two eternities”, as Schopenhauer puts it, but an everlasting light.

This is the most radical formulation of a life-affirming philosophy. By promoting the Eternal Recurrence from a theoretical thought-experiment to an actual, physical reality, Nietzsche seeks to affirm life in a very true and real sense. The Eternal Recurrence becomes a more serious matter. It’s the difference between living your life as if something was true, versus living your life knowing something is true.

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OUR ANALYSES:
▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk
▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c
▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI
▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA
▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8
▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA
▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_I

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