University of Southampton

Nietzsche - Are amor fati and eternal recurrence compatible doctrines

by

Lucia Schuster

The essay deals with the compatibility of two doctrines - amor fati and eternal recurrence. The purpose of this paper will not be to assess if they are compatible in the sense of whether they can work in intertwined harmony. I will not discuss the legitimacy of amor fati as a doctrine but eternal recurrence with its non-religious claims needs to stand up to our scrutiny. A doctrine can be either based on knowledge or on belief. It would stand to reason therefore to verify eternal recurrence´s claims to legitimacy through knowledge - empirical or physical evidence or through belief. In regard to knowledge I will have to prove if eternal recurrence is comprehensible, to find out whether or not amor fati and eternal recurrence are working hand in hand. Without plausible reasoning the final goal of amor fati can not be reached through the way of eternal recurrence. Firstly it is therefore necessary to find some empirical or physical proof for his thesis upon which one can build the basis for empirical interpretations of the eternal recurrence. Secondly Nietzsche´s eternal recurrence can be seen hypothetically, as a game of thoughts, where one is asked to imagine his/her life recurring innumerable times in all its smallest details and should then react to this imagined state-of-affairs. Taking the assumption that those statements are in themselves rational and convincing I can state that eternal recurrence leads consequently to amor fati. Therefore both doctrines are compatible. If it is not the case eternal recurrence will just be based on belief. I will answer the questions if Nietzsche really offers a new doctrine through which one can reach the goal of affirmation of life or if it is only a doctrine on the basis of faith.

The goal of Nietzsche´s ambitious teaching is amor fati. Amor fati is the love of life itself and the love of fate. It does not stand for passive acceptance of all fruitful and painful experiences in life but for the love to all activities one performs and especially towards events which happen to oneself by chance. "It is this total love of life which accepts all, rejects nothing, but preserves a sovereign mastery of the unruly elements in the self, which Nieztsche continually celebrates under the name Amor Fati" (Williams, p. Xvii). It entails the yes to necessities, which means in the worst case, that perhaps one is entitled only to fail in life. Nietzsche does not want us to base the doctrine of amor fati on belief of the Christian religion anymore but on the knowledge of eternal recurrence as a proof that we can love and change our lives out of ourselves, without a God. The Dionysianism in his book The Birth of Tragedy is an obvious example for amor fati as Nietzsche admires the Greek for celebrating all cycles in life, even the phases that consist in degeneration and decay. However, since in Nietzsche´s mind God is dead and nihilism reigns he thinks that we have to search for another way to reach the final goal of total affirmation of life. I will not examine whether or not amor fati is a doctrine worth striving for, as it is not reasonable to question the sense of a target (like a footballer kicking a goal when he does not yet know where the goal posts are). An aim is static and it is not rational to judge measures which lead towards it when one is not sure about the goal itself. Taking amor fati as the desired end it leaves for me to test eternal recurrence´s validity as a method. The method of eternal recurrence can be rooted on physical or hypothetical evidence or it can be a matter of belief. Referring to the Pons dictionary "a doctrine is a set of principles or beliefs, especially religious ones" (Brown, p. 323). Robert Allen makes it even clearer that a doctrine can be based on two different set of principles. "Doctrine [is] a principle or the body of principles in a branch of knowledge or system of belief" (Allen, p. 253). One has got rather scientific or rational roots, the other consists of conviction or trust in somebody or something. If Nietzsche´s set of principles have the power to make people change their lives towards amor fati, we can conclude that eternal recurrence forms a new doctrine and that those two doctrines are compatible. Looking at belief in terms of faith one can certainly claim that it changes people´s lives. However Nietzsche did not intend to create a new believe and definitely not a new religion. Zarathustra explained that "You had not yet sought yourselves when you found me. Thus do all believers; therefore all belief is of so little account" (Nietzsche, p. 103). He wanted to convince people to look not to a god but to themselves for a reason to live. Nietzsche wanted to give reasons to alter ones attitude towards life. Belief starts, he knew, where reasoning ends. Therefore I suggest that Nietzsche did not want belief to be the basis of his doctrine but logic. "It is power, this new virtue; it is a ruling idea, and around it a subtle soul: a golden sun, and around it the serpent of knowledge" (Nietzsche, p. 101).

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