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Single Idea 24123

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 2. Nihilism ]

Full Idea

I held up eternal recurrence against the numbing feeling of general disintegration and imperfection.

Gist of Idea

My eternal recurrence is opposed to feeling fragmented and imperfect

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1881-82 [1882], 24[28])

Book Ref

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'The Joyful Science, and 1881-82 fragments (v 6)', ed/tr. Del Caro,Adrian [Stanford 2023], p.599

A Reaction

I've heard people say that they think Nietzsche was a nihilist. This is nonsense. His whole career was an opposition to nihilism. His excitement over the idea of recurrence is that he sees a real answer to nihilism. You have to value a recurring life.

Related Idea

Idea 24119 The eternal return of wastefulness is a terrible thought [Nietzsche]

The 19 ideas with the same theme [human life seems pointless and absurd]:

7072 Jacobi was the first philosopher to talk of nihilism [Jacobi, by Critchley]
22090 For me time stands still, and I with it [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
24123 My eternal recurrence is opposed to feeling fragmented and imperfect [Nietzsche]
23214 For the strongest people, nihilism gives you wings! [Nietzsche]
20125 The ethical teacher exists to give purpose to what happens necessarily and without purpose [Nietzsche]
23717 Modern nihilism is now feeling tired of mankind [Nietzsche]
7198 Nihilism results from measuring the world by our categories which are purely invented [Nietzsche]
9782 Nietzsche urges that nihilism be active, and will nothing itself [Nietzsche, by Zizek]
7847 Initially nihilism was cosmic, but later Nietzsche saw it as a cultural matter [Nietzsche, by Ansell Pearson]
18286 The greatest experience possible is contempt for your own happiness, reason and virtue [Nietzsche]
19622 The pointlessness of our motives and irrelevance of our gestures reveals our vacuity [Cioran]
19617 Evidence suggests that humans do not have a purpose [Cioran]
19612 The universe is dirty and fragile, as if a scandal in nothingness had produced its matter [Cioran]
9243 If we believe existence is absurd, this should dictate our conduct [Camus]
6708 Happiness and the absurd go together, each leading to the other [Camus]
23941 'Absurdity' is just the result of our wrong choices in life [Solomon]
3268 If a small brief life is absurd, then so is a long and large one [Nagel]
6688 Life is only absurd if you expected an explanation and none turns up [Graham]
6843 Perceiving meaninglessness is an achievement, which can transform daily life [Critchley]