Eternal return
Eternal return (also known as eternal recurrence) is a concept that the universe has been recurring, and will continue to recur, in a self-similar form an infinite number of times across infinite time or space.
(TO DO: expand, organize, cross-reference, illustrate.)
Description
The concept is found in Indian philosophy and in ancient Egypt and was subsequently taken up by the Pythagoreans and Stoics.
Friedrich Nietzsche
With the decline of antiquity and the spread of Christianity, the concept fell into disuse in the Western world, with the exception of Friedrich Nietzsche, who connected the thought to many of his other concepts, including amor fati.
Arthur Schopenhauer
In addition, the philosophical concept of eternal recurrence was addressed by Arthur Schopenhauer.
It is a purely physical concept, involving no supernatural reincarnation, but the return of beings in the same bodies. Time is viewed as being not linear but cyclical.
See also
External links
- Eternal return @ Wikipedia
