What did Nietzsche believe about the universe?

Nietzsche states in his Werke the explicit premises for his notion of eternal recurrence being that: time is eternal and infinite; space is limited and finite; the number of atoms, the constituent elements of the universe, is determined and finite.

What is Nietzsche’s idea of eternal recurrence?

Interpretations of the eternal recurrence as it appears in Nietzsche’s works have mostly revolved around cosmological and attitudinal and normative principles. As a cosmological principle, it has been supposed to mean that time is circular, that all things recur eternally.

Does Nietzsche believe in evolution?

For Nietzsche, evolution is the correct explanation for organic history but it results in a disastrous picture of reality, since evolution (as he saw it) has far-reaching truths for both scientific cosmology and philosophical anthropology: God is no longer necessary to account for either the existence of this universe …

What did Nietzsche think of Darwin?

The central motif in Nietzsche’s criticism of Darwin seems to be that Darwin lays too much stress on survival, and too little on power [18]. But in offering this criticism, Nietzsche “misidentifies the selective criterion in Darwinism,” which is not survival, but reproduction.

Was Nietzsche for or against nihilism?

Nietzsche was a nihilist philosopher in the sense that he wrote how to cope with nihilism or how to transcend nihilism. His existentialism said that humans could choose their own purpose. He believed most positions of nihilism to be correct but that nihilism is something that can and must be overcome.

Does Nietzsche hate nihilism?

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) is sometimes dismissed as a malevolent figure, obsessed with the problem of nihilism and the “death of God”. The beauty and severity of Nietzsche’s texts draw from his vision that we could move through nihilism to develop newly meaningful ways to be human.

Did Nietzsche believe in social Darwinism?

But to sum up this answer, Nietzsche detests Social Darwinism to the core of its ideas as he does with most forms of systematic thought. Nietzsche was not a Darwinist at all. He explicitly rejected the theory of Darwin. He thought that Darwin’s theory of evolution was too materialist.

Did Nietzsche believe in natural selection?

Nietzsche saw the explanatory mechanism of natural selection as merely accounting for the quantity of species within organic history, but (for him) it is a vitalistic force that increases the quality of life forms throughout progressive biological evolution. He held that nature is essentially the will to power.

How does Nietzsche present the idea of eternal recurrence?

Rather, he presents eternal recurrence as a sort of thought experiment, a test of one’s attitude toward life. Nietzsche’s philosophy is concerned with questions about freedom, action, and will. In presenting the idea of eternal recurrence, he asks us not to take the idea as truth but to ask ourselves what we would do if the idea were true.

What does Nietzsche mean by Time is a flat circle?

What does “Time is a flat circle” mean When Nietzsche said that “time is a flat circle”, in his book “The Gay Science”, he said that human kind have a habit of making the same mistakes repeatedly. If we were able to live forever, we would keep on doing what we’re doing now, for eternity.

What happened to the idea of cyclical time?

Such ideas of cyclical time later fell out of fashion, especially in the West, with the rise of Christianity. One notable exception is found in the work of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), a 19th-century German thinker who was known for his unconventional approach to philosophy.

What are some of Nietzsche’s most famous ideas?

One of Nietzsche’s most famous ideas is that of eternal recurrence, which appears in the penultimate section of his book The Gay Science. The Gay Science is one of Nietzsche’s most personal works, collecting not only his philosophical reflections but also a number of poems, aphorisms, and songs.