Nietzschean Recurrence as a Cosmological Hypothesis

Nietzschean Recurrence as a Cosmological Hypothesis JOE KRUEGER ALTHOUGHTHE SCANDALOUSCONDITIONof Nietzsche scholarship over the past eighty years has been alleviated, for the most part, by recent studies, most commentators have either denigrated or disregarded Nietzsche's thought on eternal recurrence. Eternal recurrence has been described as mystical, a new religion, a myth or heuristic fiction, a substitute for God, and as a test and tool of breeding.' Nietzsche introduced this concept in the fourth book of The Gay Science; but its primary exposition is to be found in Zarathustra and the notes of the Nachlass. According to Nietzsche it is in Zarathustra that we find his "deepest seriousness" and his "whole philosophy , ''2 for through Zarathustra Nietzsche wished to "force mankind to decisions which will determine its entire future."3 In the section concerned with Zarathustra in Ecce Homo, Nietzsche tells us what it is about that work that he valued so highly and believed would be of decisive importance in the history of mankind: the "fundamental conception" of Zarathustra is the idea of eternal recurrence. This idea was often referred to by Nietzsche as his "thought of thoughts" and the "turning point of history." ' For reference to recurrence as mystical, see Karl Jaspers, Nietzsche, trans. Charles F. Wallraff and Frederick J. Schmitz (Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1969); and James Gutmann, "The 'Tremendous Moment' of Nietzsche's Vision," Journal of Philosophy 51 (1954):837-42. Reference to recurrence as a new religion can be found in George Allen Morgan, What Nietzsche Means (New York: Harper and Row, 1965); W. D. William, Nietzsche and the French (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1952); and Harry Neumann's review of Wolfgang M~iller-Lauter, Nietzsche: Seine Philosophie der Gegensdtze und die Gegensi~tze seine Philosophie," Journal of the History of Philosophy l0 (July 1972):371-74. References to recurrence as a heuristic fiction can be found in Hans Vaihinger, The Philosophy of "'As-If," trans. C. Ogden (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1924); Oscar Ewald, Nietzsches Lehre in ihren Grundbegriffen (Berlin: Ernst Hofmann and Co., 1903); George Simmel, Schopenhauer undNietzsche (Leipzig: Duncker und Humbolt, 1907); Richard Tursman, "Nietzsche contra Idealism," Idealistic Studies 1 (May 1971):160-71; and Giles Driscoll, "Nietzsche and Eternal Recurrence," Personalist 49 (1968):461-74. For referencesto recurrence as a substitute for God, see Erich Heller, The Disinherited Mind (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Cudahy, 1957); Jaspers, Nietzsche; and Abraham Wolf, The Philosophy of Nietzsche (London: Constable and Co., 1915). For references to recurrence as a test and tool of breeding, see Crane Brinton, Nietzsche (New York: Harper and Row, 1965); Jaspers, Nietzsche; Frederick Copleston, Friedrich Nietzsche: Philosopher of Culture (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1975); Waiter Kaufmann, Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist , Antichrist, 3rd ed. (New York: Random House, Vintage Books, 1968); A. H. J. Knight, Some Aspects of the Life and Work of Nietzsche and Particularly of His Connection with Greek Literature and Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1933); H. L. Mencken, The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, 3rd ed. (Boston: Kennikat, 1913); Bertram Laing, "The Origin of Nietzsche's Problem and Its Solution," International Journal of Ethics 26 (July 1916):510-27; Rudolph Gerber, "Reason as Power for Humanism," Philosophy Today 12 (Summer 1968), 75-92. 2Nietzsche to yon Gersdorff, 28 June 1883, Werke in Drei Btlnden, ed, Karl Schlechta (Munich: Carl Hanser, 1956), 3 :1207 (hereafter cited as WDB); and Selected Letters ofFriedrich Nietzsche, ed., trans. Christopher Middleton (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969), p. 213. Nietzsche to yon Meysenbug, May 1884, WDB, 3:1220; and Nietzsche: ,4 Self-Portrait from His Letters, ed., trans, Peter Fuss and Henry Shapiro (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971), p. 81. [4351 436 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY I propose in this paper to investigate the nature of Nietzschean eternal recurrence considered as a cosmological hypothesis. The first section of this paper will be concerned with the exposition of Nietzsche's arguments for the cyclical world process and will show that although his arguments are invalid, it is nevertheless possible to avoid some of the criticism leveled against them. The second section will discuss the nature of eternal recurrence and answer the question of what it is that eternally recurs, according to Nietzschean recurrence. I. Nietzsche...