Eternal Return Hermeneutics in Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida
Nietzsche’s Eternal Return (ER) is interpreted in many ways, including by him. I present it as a hermeneutic device, a way of reading texts, especially those whose influence threatens one’s authorial autonomy and/or are later difficult to take ownership of due to philosophical growth. It returns pas...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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De Gruyter
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Open Philosophy |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2022-0267 |
| _version_ | 1827786979052355584 |
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| author | Braver Lee |
| author_facet | Braver Lee |
| author_sort | Braver Lee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Nietzsche’s Eternal Return (ER) is interpreted in many ways, including by him. I present it as a hermeneutic device, a way of reading texts, especially those whose influence threatens one’s authorial autonomy and/or are later difficult to take ownership of due to philosophical growth. It returns past texts with new interpretations, similar to the way ER leads one to embrace one’s past without changing anything, which radically changes everything from a resented painful burden into a celebrated enhancement of freedom and power. I show how he could have derived the idea from Schopenhauer, his own embarrassing past, by performing the technique on Schopenhauer. The same attitude toward past texts of recreating them according to one’s present interests and concerns simultaneously releases one’s present texts for future readers to impose their readings onto them, just as Zarathustra tells his followers not to follow him. Heidegger takes the idea up in a far more nuanced account than he is usually given credit for and applies it, among other places, to the history of philosophy. All philosophers say the same as it keeps returning. Derrida then recreates this as iterability, the deconstruction of the no/change dichotomy that Nietzsche began. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:43:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1b38339c5896469e9eb79ce3957c8c6b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2543-8875 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:43:02Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Philosophy |
| spelling | doaj.art-1b38339c5896469e9eb79ce3957c8c6b2023-10-23T07:50:59ZengDe GruyterOpen Philosophy2543-88752023-10-01615255810.1515/opphil-2022-0267Eternal Return Hermeneutics in Nietzsche, Heidegger, and DerridaBraver Lee0Department of Philosophy, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, United StatesNietzsche’s Eternal Return (ER) is interpreted in many ways, including by him. I present it as a hermeneutic device, a way of reading texts, especially those whose influence threatens one’s authorial autonomy and/or are later difficult to take ownership of due to philosophical growth. It returns past texts with new interpretations, similar to the way ER leads one to embrace one’s past without changing anything, which radically changes everything from a resented painful burden into a celebrated enhancement of freedom and power. I show how he could have derived the idea from Schopenhauer, his own embarrassing past, by performing the technique on Schopenhauer. The same attitude toward past texts of recreating them according to one’s present interests and concerns simultaneously releases one’s present texts for future readers to impose their readings onto them, just as Zarathustra tells his followers not to follow him. Heidegger takes the idea up in a far more nuanced account than he is usually given credit for and applies it, among other places, to the history of philosophy. All philosophers say the same as it keeps returning. Derrida then recreates this as iterability, the deconstruction of the no/change dichotomy that Nietzsche began.https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2022-0267nietzscheschopenhauerheideggerderridaeternal returnhermeneuticsinterpretationpolysemy |
| spellingShingle | Braver Lee Eternal Return Hermeneutics in Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida Open Philosophy nietzsche schopenhauer heidegger derrida eternal return hermeneutics interpretation polysemy |
| title | Eternal Return Hermeneutics in Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida |
| title_full | Eternal Return Hermeneutics in Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida |
| title_fullStr | Eternal Return Hermeneutics in Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida |
| title_full_unstemmed | Eternal Return Hermeneutics in Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida |
| title_short | Eternal Return Hermeneutics in Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida |
| title_sort | eternal return hermeneutics in nietzsche heidegger and derrida |
| topic | nietzsche schopenhauer heidegger derrida eternal return hermeneutics interpretation polysemy |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2022-0267 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT braverlee eternalreturnhermeneuticsinnietzscheheideggerandderrida |