Translated as "the love of fate", it is one of Nietzsche's key and important concepts. Religions such as Christianity and Buddhism have philosophies geared towards the elimination of suffering—to make people feel that bad things that happen are indeed bad, but religious guidance can filter out the after effects of such things. Such ideologies contend that one should focus on what is good to lead a good life—to leave behind all that is bad and avoid it at all costs. Nietzsche felt that all good and bad that transpires in a person's life is the means by which destiny—our destiny—drives itself toward its ultimate goal.
Amor fati challenges the conventional values found in religious ideologies by stating that what is bad is actually good because it brings progress. Pain, suffering, and such things labeled bad compel us to change; and change is by default good. To embrace amor fati is to grow, evolve, and know what it means to be human, all too human.
For a better understanding of amor fati, see Anthony Kronman's article, which reviews the philosophical development of the concept from Aeshylus and Sophocles all the way up to the modern era with Bernard Williams. Also, Philip Kain's article regarding Nietzsche's concept of eternal recurrence indirectly addresses the connection to amor fati.
Related books and sections:
●The Gay Science, §276, 277, & 318
●Thus Spoke Zarathustra, "On the Adder's Bite"
●Nietzsche Contra Wagner: Epilogue, §1
●Ecce Homo: Why I Am So Clever, §10
●Ecce Homo: "The Case of Wagner", §4
Relevant articles to read:
●Kain, Philip J. "Nietzsche, Eternal Recurrence, and the Horror of Existence." Journal of Nietzsche Studies 33 (2007): 49–63.
●Kronman, Anthony T. "Amor Fati (The Love of Fate)." The University of Toronto Law Journal 45, no. 2 (Spring 1995): 163–178.
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5 comments:
related to this, especially your advice at the end of looking at how something bad may benefit you is "The Adder's Bite" in Zarathustra, not sure where it is in the book, but I think it was when i was reading the introduction to Ecce Homo that i saw Kaufmann praising the section and saying something like "tell me where you can find a wisdom greater than this."
I struggle with amor fati though. I think it is a very comforting perspective and is no doubt a healthier view than the black/white good/evil view so prevalent in the world, but i have a hard time fitting it in with the rest of Nietzsche's philosophy and my own life. I guess a related post would be helpful that discusses Nietzsche's views on free will. If I remember right in Beyond he has a section defending it, but the whole destiny and fate talk seems to me to indicate a sort of set path or lack of free-will or worse yet (and obviously not what he means) a supernatural guidance. Once past this difficulty (if it even is one), I always feel like i am being an overly positive and fake person when i just look at the positive side in everything. It seems to be in conflict to something I have always felt which is the most honest evaluation of an event is always the best. If I found the most joy in life to be listening to music and then lost my hearing it is hard to make an evaluation of the loss of my hearing that is both completely honest and completely positive or have amor fati.
also, i enjoyed reading your dailynietzsche blog. I think it was quite an amazing acheivement.
The one thing I was surprised about was that you did so much work on such a quality level and got no monetary or other tangible compensation. I was thinking with 65 more days you could have published the blog as a daily devotional which could be sold next to all those silly christian ones. I get a free devotional calendar for the idea if you hadn't already thought of it (I don't give anyone anything without compensation - I guess it is my will to power.....jk....kind of).
Ah, yes... "On the Adder's Bite"; this definitely belongs with amor fati. To cherry-pick an excerpt: "But if you have an enemy, do not requite him evil with good, for that would put him to shame. Rather prove that he did you some good."
Nietzsche went all-out on Zarathustra.
Sometimes a philosophy like amor fati is difficult to conceive in such a world that we live in, but then, that is why it is so much more important. The more bad we find, the more good we should seek to draw from it. It's important to accept something as painful or bad, and not immediately see it as positive at that moment, but rather after the dust has settled. Amor fati comes off to me as a tool of reflection rather than a way of life.
The loss of one's hearing would indeed be tragic and difficult to see things positive. I suppose it's a matter of how you weigh things. Can one justify the loss of not hearing all the beautiful sounds in the world by accepting that all the horrible sounds have been equally squelched? Then again, when we lose one of our senses, one or more of the other four increase in sensitivity to compensate for the loss. The positive aspect could be that one's visual acuity improves as a result of using it more than they would have were their hearing intact.
Glad you enjoyed the blog (there are many posts to go around), and you do have a point there about monetary compensation. As it was a daily venture, the thought did cross my mind as to how far I could have gone with it. In the end, it was a matter of time. I have my academic pursuits and they have taken precedence over Nietzsche.
I believe however, that had I wrote a daily Nietzsche blog for money, the quality would surely have gone up. My work on that blog is mostly unedited; a rough draft if you will. With The Nietzsche Index, the editing process is more defined with every update, and today you have helped update this post!
Thanks for commenting!
Here we see the influence of Heraclitus on Nietzsche, arguably his favourite philosopher"
- "everything is in a state of flux"
- binary existence: winter and spring, fortune and calamity, good and evil
- "strife is justice"
How very true. Accordingly, you may find this post relevant to your observation.
Thanks for commenting... I look forward to future posts on your blog.
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