A Theory of the Earth and the Eternal Return of the Same: Nietzsche and the Geology of His Time

Nietzsche’s engagement with the natural sciences significantly shaped his philosophical ideas, contrary to Martin Heidegger’s dismissal of Nietzsche’s scientific interests as an “aberration.” While the impact of various scientific disciplines on Nietzsche’s philosophy has been thoroughly explored, the specific role of geology, with its theories about the Earth, is still not investigated. In this article, I highlight Nietzsche’s early fascination with geology, the incorporation of geological concepts into his philosophy, and the effect of geological theories on his ideas about history, time, and creation. Nietzsche’s main philosophical thought, the “eternal return of the same,” emerged as he observed a pyramidal stone in the Engadin Valley, a geological formation that bore witness to the Earth’s history. It was a thought that did not need any extraterrestrial or godlike explanation and that was in line with James Hutton’s Theory of the Earth (1795). For Nietzsche, it was not the thought as such that was important, but how such a thought could compel humans to rethink their existence, prompting a revaluation of human life.