"Behold, you are the teacher of the eternal return, - that is now your destiny. ... Behold, we know what you teach: that all things eternally return and we ourselves with them, and that we have already existed an infinite number of times, and all things with us." - Nietzsche
Everything has been done before. My life has no inherent meaning; what I do has always been done before, even if not in my unique order and combination. What is my purpose then, my reason for being? I suppose this is nihilism. He doesn't write very positively about it either. Sartre's existentialism also teaches the lack of a priori meaning to life, but he then develops an argument for developing our own complete set of values by which to define ourselves. Nietzsche doesn't look as constructively to the problem - instead, it is a depressing resignation that we have been preceded and will be succeeded, at least in a general sense.
My confusion with him is this. It would seem that he looks upon humanity as a means to achieving the Ubermensch. If i read it correctly, the beginning of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche wants the common man to break his back in order to develop humanity further. Contentment with the absence of pain is a poison which makes us complacent, and unwilling to continue our labors. Well, with this viewpoint, it seems to me every man does have a unique, significant meaning in achieving the Ubermensch. Even if it is true that what I do has been done before, and will be done afterwards, I can still be comforted by the fact that I played a non-trivial part in inching the progress bar towards completion, towards the Ubermensch.
But then, what happens when the higher man arrives? Does our work then stop? Does the meaning of my life hinge retroactively on the achievement of the Ubermensch? These are big questions that I feel Nietzsche does not adequately address. Granted, I have read only a small minority of his works, but I expected a more coherent version of nihilism.
Everything has been done before. My life has no inherent meaning; what I do has always been done before, even if not in my unique order and combination. What is my purpose then, my reason for being? I suppose this is nihilism. He doesn't write very positively about it either. Sartre's existentialism also teaches the lack of a priori meaning to life, but he then develops an argument for developing our own complete set of values by which to define ourselves. Nietzsche doesn't look as constructively to the problem - instead, it is a depressing resignation that we have been preceded and will be succeeded, at least in a general sense.
My confusion with him is this. It would seem that he looks upon humanity as a means to achieving the Ubermensch. If i read it correctly, the beginning of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche wants the common man to break his back in order to develop humanity further. Contentment with the absence of pain is a poison which makes us complacent, and unwilling to continue our labors. Well, with this viewpoint, it seems to me every man does have a unique, significant meaning in achieving the Ubermensch. Even if it is true that what I do has been done before, and will be done afterwards, I can still be comforted by the fact that I played a non-trivial part in inching the progress bar towards completion, towards the Ubermensch.
But then, what happens when the higher man arrives? Does our work then stop? Does the meaning of my life hinge retroactively on the achievement of the Ubermensch? These are big questions that I feel Nietzsche does not adequately address. Granted, I have read only a small minority of his works, but I expected a more coherent version of nihilism.
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