Eternal return (also known as "eternal recurrence") is a concept which posits 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. The concept is found in Indian philosophy and in ancient Egypt and was subsequently taken up by the Pythagoreans and Stoics. With the decline of antiquity and the spread of Christianity, the concept fell into disuse in the Western world, though Friedrich Nietzsche resurrected it as a thought experiment to argue for amor fati.
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.
Read more about Eternal Return: Premise, Classical Antiquity, Indian Religions, Judaism, Renaissance, Friedrich Nietzsche, Poincaré Recurrence Theorem, Modern Cosmology, Arguments Against Eternal Return, References in Other Literature, References in Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words eternal and/or return:
“It has been rightly said that nothing is unimportant, nothing powerless in the universe; a single atom can dissolve everything, and save everything! What terror! There lies the eternal distinction between good and evil.”
—Gérard De Nerval (1808–1855)
“Retirement requires the invention of a new hedonism, not a return to the hedonism of youth.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)