Becoming Godless: Heidegger's Nietzsche and the Eternal Return

Nietzsches concept of eternal return best exemplifies his anti-theological thought, but it is often misread as either classical physics or a thought experiment. Insofar as Anglo-American and analytic interpretations reject eternal returns cosmology, their ethical implications are minimized. By contrast, Heideggers synthesized cosmological and ethical reading is shown to be more normatively significant in framing Nietzsches philosophy as radical atheism. However, it is also shown that Heidegger limits Nietzsches radicalness by approaching eternal return as the notion that being as a whole returns identically. To that end, it is next argued that Heideggers explication of the cosmology as an ethical projection is superior to scientific interpretations in analytic and Anglo-American readings, but also that Heidegger partially misreads eternal returns cosmology. It is therefore finally demonstrated that Nietzsches cosmology actually rejects that an identical state of being returns. This finally allows for the most profound ethical implications in Nietzsches philosophy.

Author dc:creator

• Lauretani, Aaron

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Vernon, James P.

• Philosophy

Statement dc:rights

• Author owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10315/35031

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:yorkspace.library.yorku.ca:10315/35031