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Hub AI
Eternal return AI simulator
(@Eternal return_simulator)
Hub AI
Eternal return AI simulator
(@Eternal return_simulator)
Eternal return
Eternal return (or eternal recurrence) is a philosophical concept which states that time repeats itself in an infinite loop, and that exactly the same events will continue to occur in exactly the same way, over and over again, for eternity.
In ancient Greece, the concept of eternal return was most prominently associated with Empedocles and with Stoicism, the school of philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium. The Stoics believed that the universe is periodically destroyed and reborn, and that each universe is exactly the same as the one before. This doctrine was fiercely criticised by Christian authors such as Augustine, who saw in it a fundamental denial of free will and of the possibility of salvation. The spread of Christianity therefore diminished classical theories of eternal return.
The concept was revived in the 19th century by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Having briefly presented the idea as a thought experiment in The Gay Science, he explored it more thoroughly in his novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra, in which the protagonist learns to overcome his horror of the thought of eternal return. It is not known whether Nietzsche believed in the literal truth of eternal return, or, if he did not, what he intended to demonstrate by it.
Nietzsche's ideas were subsequently taken up and reinterpreted by other writers, such as Russian esotericist P. D. Ouspensky, who argued that it was possible to break the cycle of return.
The notion of cyclical patterns and repeating events has origins in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology. In Hinduism, there is the Kalpa concept where the universe is destroyed and recreated by Brahma every 8.64 billion years. Transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death is a dominant feature of Hinduism. Buddhism has a similar notion of Kalachakra or "Wheel of Time" that represents an endless cycle of birth, life, and death from which one seeks liberation.
The notion of cyclic change through transmigration/reincarnation, better known as saṃsāra developed in the early Upanishads (c. 800 – 300 BCE) is similar to Nietzsche's formulation in many respects.
There are hints in ancient writings that the theory of eternal return may have originated with Pythagoras (c. 570 – c. 495 BC). According to Porphyry, it was one of the teachings of Pythagoras that "after certain specified periods, the same events occur again" and that "nothing was entirely new". Eudemus of Rhodes also references this Pythagorean doctrine in his commentary on Aristotle's Physics. In a fragment preserved by Simplicius, Eudemus writes:
One might raise the problem whether the same time recurs, as some say, or not. "The same" has many senses: the same in form seems to occur as do spring and winter and the other seasons and periods; similarly the same changes occur in form, for the sun performs its solstices and equinoxes and its other journeys. But if someone were to believe the Pythagoreans that numerically the same things recur, then I also will romance, holding my staff, while you sit there, and everything else will be the same, and it is plausible to say that the time will be the same.
Eternal return
Eternal return (or eternal recurrence) is a philosophical concept which states that time repeats itself in an infinite loop, and that exactly the same events will continue to occur in exactly the same way, over and over again, for eternity.
In ancient Greece, the concept of eternal return was most prominently associated with Empedocles and with Stoicism, the school of philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium. The Stoics believed that the universe is periodically destroyed and reborn, and that each universe is exactly the same as the one before. This doctrine was fiercely criticised by Christian authors such as Augustine, who saw in it a fundamental denial of free will and of the possibility of salvation. The spread of Christianity therefore diminished classical theories of eternal return.
The concept was revived in the 19th century by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Having briefly presented the idea as a thought experiment in The Gay Science, he explored it more thoroughly in his novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra, in which the protagonist learns to overcome his horror of the thought of eternal return. It is not known whether Nietzsche believed in the literal truth of eternal return, or, if he did not, what he intended to demonstrate by it.
Nietzsche's ideas were subsequently taken up and reinterpreted by other writers, such as Russian esotericist P. D. Ouspensky, who argued that it was possible to break the cycle of return.
The notion of cyclical patterns and repeating events has origins in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology. In Hinduism, there is the Kalpa concept where the universe is destroyed and recreated by Brahma every 8.64 billion years. Transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death is a dominant feature of Hinduism. Buddhism has a similar notion of Kalachakra or "Wheel of Time" that represents an endless cycle of birth, life, and death from which one seeks liberation.
The notion of cyclic change through transmigration/reincarnation, better known as saṃsāra developed in the early Upanishads (c. 800 – 300 BCE) is similar to Nietzsche's formulation in many respects.
There are hints in ancient writings that the theory of eternal return may have originated with Pythagoras (c. 570 – c. 495 BC). According to Porphyry, it was one of the teachings of Pythagoras that "after certain specified periods, the same events occur again" and that "nothing was entirely new". Eudemus of Rhodes also references this Pythagorean doctrine in his commentary on Aristotle's Physics. In a fragment preserved by Simplicius, Eudemus writes:
One might raise the problem whether the same time recurs, as some say, or not. "The same" has many senses: the same in form seems to occur as do spring and winter and the other seasons and periods; similarly the same changes occur in form, for the sun performs its solstices and equinoxes and its other journeys. But if someone were to believe the Pythagoreans that numerically the same things recur, then I also will romance, holding my staff, while you sit there, and everything else will be the same, and it is plausible to say that the time will be the same.