Hello, Professor Dodson! I just want to say that I am thoroughly enjoying your Nietzsche lectures! You are helping me develop a profound appreciation for possibly one of the most misunderstood philosophers in the history of philosophy. Thanks to your lectures, I have been making a lot of connections and associations in my readings of philosophy. You’re a rockstar!
Hello, Professor Dodson!I want to tell you that your lectures are great source of inspiration and strength for me, i am from a deeply religious society where almost everything in life is an essence and learning of Islam. For the last three year you silently change almost every idea near and dear to me. I am even translating your lectures in to Urdu which is my language and making videos on face book. Your work on NIETZSCHE, introduce me to NIETZSCHE and it is amazing. Even at this difficult moment, you gave me a tool to accept and ultimately fight the adversity of life. Thank you again.
Holy Snake! Your interpretation of the Eternal Recurrence blew me away. Certainly I did't open my floodgates during Zarathustra's reading and whole this idea appeared to me like something buddhist related to coming from death again and again. But your idea abou loving your own life and desire to live it and feel it eternaly is absolutly amazing and useful. Thank Prof
Dear Dr. Dodson, I listen to your nietzsche lectures during my workout, they are very informative and superbly delivered. I am looking forward to read him again.
Amor Fati "Don't try to fight What's not your fault Let go, reach out The choice is yours to find Inside you've got The light to guide Your fate decides The roads you're going to find Relax, slow down Let hope decide Even though it's hard to forget When you can't afford love Chasing all your thoughts you know that You'll be all right in time Inside you've got The light to guide Your fate decides The roads your going to find Inside you've got The light to guide Your fate decides The roads you're going to find" Greene Ernest Weatherly
Thank you so much for making Nietzsche finally (I’m 75!) not just comprehensible but likeable for me! Your videos are the best lectures on philosophy - or indeed on anything claiming to be educational - that I have seen! I love the way you have of elucidating difficult vocabulary so students don’t feel intimidated by the language used.
Hey, Professor. Loved the class. The Buddhist does not demote this life experience and promote the nirvana in after life. In fact, the path to enlightenment is overcoming the perspective of life as suffering and engaging in life as it is (Buddhism prescribe understanding the 4 noble truths and following the noble eightfold path). This is so the case that the Bodhisattva vows are the representation of "withstanding the eternal recurrence", "eternal confirmation and seal". Also, nirvana is a state of the liberated mind, the mind as you stated "can live beautifully enough" with the pain and pleasure intact. Amor fati and Buddhism are so much alike.
And another possible parallel with amor fati and ancient religions is the Vedic concept of life as Leela, whereas the self-realized sannyasi will joyfully "play", without entanglement with pain or pleasure.
Just want to say I stumbled across these videos while researching on this concept for writing an essay. You made it so simple for me to understand it and I recently started my addiction to philosophers thank you!
@@EricDodsonLectures I don't get it either. Nietzsche is one of our greatest philosophers and has a high reputation in Germany. But I can't find barely anything about him besides (still interesting) discussions about the interpretation between experts. I don't think germans lost interest in his work. Nietzsche is one of the most interesting men here and if you know about him you have good chances to impress your dialog partner. my idea is that he's just to radical without using typical logical rathional arguments to often. And after WW2 every radical ideas are a bit tricky to defend here. Especially after nazis abused Nietzsches work for their ideology. Still he has very high reputation but maybe germans aren't conformable enough to talk about him.😅 Erik F.
Man, grasping the implications of to what degree CAN you love your life, what could you stand? As opposed to DO you love your life, which luckily is transitory. I don’t even know of that makes sense, lol. Great work, it’s cool you wore your buddies farm hat too!
Your lecture about the eternal recurrence is the best I have heard so far. Personally I am sure this is true because I had so many times in my life that i knew exactly what will happen in detail.. and it came true. Dejavue is another example of remembering what has happened so many times. When I was younger I always thought it is remembered from other lifes but no, it's this life and I am fine with it. Not that anyone can do anything about it anyway😊
Wonderfully presented, you make this hard subject fun of life and playful act like Nietzsche, and most of all, ease of understanding and joy to digest. You are the best of the best, no doubt.
This was posted three years ago according to my RU-vid. I love the Internet, it's awesome. Anyways, first let me thank you for your lecture. I look forward to watching them all. And secondly you mentioned Valhalla as a place one would not want to ascend if they truly embraced their life but isn't Valhalla another eternal recurrence? The Norse mythology of heaven was spent awakening in a long house with others who had crossed over then eating and drinking in celebration which concluded every night with fighting to the death only to be repeated again the next morning. I don't expect an answer back just wanted to comment and thank you again.
Sensational as always. Thank you for bringing in the passage from BoT to nail it all together. I’d almost given up on that book. But of course there’s gems all through his oeuvre
Well, I have a small problem with this thought experiment. It is the question : do I keep my memory or not? - If I keep my memories my experience of things would be different. For instance a lot of us cringe at our past selves or have regrets because they have made decisions they regrets due to lack of insight. Experiencing the same decisions again with knowledge of the previous life would change it's experience. - If I do not keep my memories then the situation is even more simple : it will not matter at all because I would cease to exist as a continuous being when I die and things will just repeat themselves exactly as they are and I will have the exact same mindset and reactions as I did previously. But of course I understand that it do not change the point of the experiment. PS : it started raining with a few thunder as I was listening to this video.
So, the conclusion is(one aspect of it): Love your life, live as best as you can so you can repeat the same (the best, the most beautiful things) over and over in an neverending circle of lifes ? This also means being responsible a lot, responsible in front of yourself- in the name of your life
Very inspiring Eric! On balance we should be in love with the orbits we travel in and hopefully intersect with those who understand a love of life like you have demonstrated in your interpretation of Nietzsche's ideas! It's never a free ride anyway but one that teaches us about the ups and downs and flipping every which way! Jack
Hi Professor Dodson. This is long and irrelevant, but I feel compelled to show my gratitude. I wasn't going to because honestly it's embarrassing compared to all of the other people here watching and learning and whatnot, but it was when you quoted Tool that I felt compelled. I began to love learning before I can remember, but that does not mean I have always enjoyed the lessons. They're useful after the fact, but oftentimes they suck. I was in the "gifted" classes starting in second grade but even at that age it was obvious that the whole thing bullshit. Any of those students would have benefited from that kind of attention. In eighth grade my science teacher let me create my own unit of Independent study which demonstrated an entirely new dimension of learning. I'm very grateful to Mr. Doctor (no joke, his actual name) for teaching me to teach myself. In the 9th grade I was in a new kind of school, a school called Nova which was an alternative school. I was taking writing classes with the seniors and loved it. I wanted to graduate early. I also wanted to skip school one day and go do mushrooms. Even though I wasn't on school grounds, they found out through a diary entry of another student and the very powerful parents of that student wanted an example made. I was fucking expelled. I was sent to a different kind of alternative school, one meant for the children who couldn't be in the normal population, us kids who legally had to be enrolled somewhere, but mainly it was about keeping us contained. There was no way in hell I was going through that again, I'd been through enough as a child and my family, and besides I was a stubborn smartass rebel. I left and got my GED right when I turned 16. I ran away from home and lives on the streets of Seattle, occasionally hitchhiking up and down the coast which was admittedly dangerous for a teenage girl that weighed 100 lbs soaking wet. But human behavior was something I was blessed and cursed to be highly aware of because of my upbringing. I fell in love many times and at 24 had a baby. Fueled by maternal instinct to do my best, my interest in psychology and human nature was beginning to understand its name. I wanted to go to school again. At this point I'm 34. I got out of that abusive relationship after 9 years and although I don't have a degree, I did end up with two pretty fantastic kids. I still want to go to school but I can't, I don't think it's in the cards for me and that's okay. And here's where you and those like you come in. I have journals filled with neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and I have a sketchbook with at least one sketch in it (with two full sets of drawing pencils waiting for me to come back). I have written essays for fun, read uncomfortable amounts of scholarly articles, and looked up more words than I can remember. My grammar isn't the best, but my ideas are decent enough I think. I have watched countless hours of lectures from professors and own more books than I'm able to keep up with. I'm in therapy. And in pain. But I'm still going. I'm still learning even when nobody's making me, even when they actually tried to stop me. Even when I know I'll never afford it, or have the time. So thank you for loving to teach. As a delinquent highschool drop-out I just wanted you to know that you are reaching a far broader audience, that your classroom is made up of a kaleidoscope of pupils who, despite the deck or their lack of degree, are still fucking learning because we *love it*. Thanks.
Without an awareness of the retreading of your eternal footsteps, how would going through the motions of an endless loop of repeated life matter much? You would only feel like you lived once anyway. Am I missing something?
_Wait a second: if I were genuinely in love with my life because the positive and pleasurable experiences I theoretically would have lived far outweighed the negative ones and I was at the end of such life and an "angel" descended upon me giving me a choice as to whether to experience an eternal recurrence of this life in question or heaven, would it not be fair to say that opting for the eternal recurrence is choosing heaven itself?_
Okay, so I always was wondering, is there any way out off eternal recurrence, after accepting my fate/life is it gonna take on forever even if I truly accept or im gonna transcend to some another being or im just gonna stay the same? I know that not every people are experts at answering it would be understandable if that comment won't be explained. I'm trying to understand it. and im really trying to guess if it's possible. this kind of idea of philosophy is kinda terryfing to me, or even mad, making me frustrating or even at the same time mysterious maybe im overthinking it, but that seems off that catched my attention like something wanted me to see this.
Well, it sounds like you're not quite understanding what a "thought experiment" is all about. From that perspective, the point is *not* whether there's a way out of the eternal recurrence, or even whether time is structured that way. Instead, the point is about what effects considering that possibility can have on our lives as we know them. So, basically the question is: If time *were* structured that way, and if we had to live out all of the moments of our lives infinitely as a consequence... then how might we live *this moment* right now differently than we otherwise would? And more to the point: How might our entire existence change if we were to begin living that way more generally? Basically, the eternal recurrence is a gateway to transforming our lives, rather than a theory about how time itself might be structured. Hope this helps. Eric D.
you might enjoy the bid dipper ride, but if you had to keep doing it wouldn't the enjoyment wear off, and you wouldn't get the adranelin thrill if you kept doing it. I think the key to amor fati is variation in one's life..
It is at times like these, and with reference to this particular question that I am truly grateful to be an atheist. The thought of a life after death seems to be a lose lose proposition either way. Eternity in hell or an eternity listening to harps, I'm not sure which would be worse. I think it is so much easier to conclude that we have one life and when we die we cease to exist except in the traces we leave behind. By holding this view one is more apt to embrace this life while we are here and be proactive towards doing what we can to improve where we can or make the best of it when we can not. With respect to the concepts of reincarnation and karma, I don't believe the original views were of one life leading to consequences in another but rather that one action leads naturally to a consequence in this life. I think the construct has been hijacked and it's meaning distorted for purposes that served psychological or sociological ends in their day rather than a logical one. Every day when we wake we have reincarnated from the previous day would be a more tollerable and useful interpretation. As far as karma is concerned I think its' original intended meaning was that behaviour, including thoughts, will either lead to a physical or psychological consequence that is a natural outcome of that behaviour. It does not mean we get what we deserve eventually although that would be nice to believe that wrong doers are eventually punished appropriately and thus justice exists. Perhaps this is where the distortion in the constructs meaning originate, in our desire that it means something that gives us comfort. Ultimately, for me, religious or spiritual constructs like these fly in the face of my evolutionary biases. Perhaps my evolutionary biases are what give me comfort. The alternative to me are; hell, heaven, purgatory or ceasation. I choose ceasation, if I'm wrong I'll try a different strategy next life.
Life is crazy. Bodies are literally biomechanical parts that has been coded, programmed to serve a certain purpose. The deeper and smaller you look into things the crazier they get. As above so below as the skies and the edge of the universe. It's all me. it was all you. All this is I and not me at the same time.
You sir, have zero fat in your lecture. Oh my god! Beside the fact that I like jordan peterson, if JP has to explain the Eternal Recurrence, it would have taken 5hr easily with his fancy hand gesture. lol
Ha ha... that's funny. Yeah, I suppose that as a former computer scientist, I have a predilection for efficiency. And all of that has probably entered into my lectures as a professor, too. Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to watch & listen. Gratitude. Eric D.
Eternal repetition of even 'best' choices & glorious life outcomes would ultimately be a boring hell; the concept falls down here because it's completely uncreative [creativity ceases and you are simply on replay]
Well, it sounds like you're not quite getting the idea of the Eternal Recurrence *as a thought experiment* ... rather than as a theory about the structure of temporality. Basically, the point isn't about what an Eternal Recurrence may or may not feel like, or whether we'd enjoy it. Instead, the point is to see what effect a thought experiment of that sort might have on how we're living now. Basically, it's a prompt to see if we can be creative enough to generate a life better than the one we'd otherwise live. Hence, creativity is actually at the very center of the Eternal Recurrence.
I can't withstand that and never will be , Nietzsche can't irregardless of what he said , he just had no choice but to say that because there are no other solution , if he can withstand it he wouldn't have became insane in the end , it's much much much worse than reincarnation , just attain to heaven or nirvana , heaven and nirvana exists
It is quite difficult for people to enjoy the life in front of them due to how poor their attention span is. Most souls will just return back to Earth and remain forever. Especially souls in the West.
it would be an elegant form of eternal life (if you accept the bad with the good experiences). you don't know that it's happened before so it's always new!
