nietzsche, determinism, destiny

12 Jun, 2024

It's been a minute since I last revisited Nietzsche. He had a big impact on me when I was a kid, and, now, while I look to get back into jiu-jitsu competitively and starting college with a fistful of dreams, it's timely to give him a reread.

I've written pieces on free will in the past (read here ¹ for more detail). My stance, while always being subject to change as they get challenged, is sympathetic more toward causal determinism/illusive free will.

The free will debate is always a tricky one to articulate, not just because of its depth and possible permutations of perspectives, but also because the outcome of debates largely hinge on how free will is defined. The higher you set the bar for free will, the harder it is to justify.

Nietzsche famously rejected the notion of free will, arguing that we are, largely, the products of predetermined dispositions—that our essential nature is influenced by factors beyond our control, such as genetics, upbringing, social influences et al. In short, we are the we that we are mostly due to the hand we were dealt at birth—a circumstance wherein we had no say. While Nietzsche may have been inclined to agree that trivial notions of free will existed, he believed that where it mattered—such as whether to go to college or not, or whether we decide to marry our partners—free will is largely absent.

Now is this demotivating? It necessary implies that our goals' impressiveness shrinks at an instance, for they are not wholly up to our agency. Nietzsche believes quite the contrary. That it should be motivating precisely because it is only through crucibles that we reveal our essence. Through trotting through the inferno, we make tough choices, wrestle with dilemmas, and stare death straight in the eye. And through these, our essence reveals it self. To Nietzsche, the goal of life is to discover and embrace one's true self.

Through old letters by Napoleon or commentary on Caesar, a lot of their verbiage on greatness was in the third person. They often spoke that it was not themselves per se that led to their great achievements—Napoleon's dreams of reuniting Europe and Caesar's ambitious to expand the Roman borders. They spoke of a feeling of manifesting destiny. Almost as if destiny were, through them as a vessel, writing the pages of history—them merely a conduit.

It's been awhile since I last vigorously practiced jiu jitsu. I had potential as a kid. What started off as a dreamy-eyed 14 year old, who placed competitively in the adult brackets, ended up in an abrupt exit from the sport after a knee dislocation and when the military came knocking on the door. When I reentered the sport this year it felt as if a flame had been relit—that there was unfinished business. I have to continue where I've left off.

So for the ambitious, those with an undying flame, continue to go ferociously into life. Because that's the only way to find out who you are. Potential can only be accurately accessed in retrospect.

Conclusion: Amor Fati.

hope this helps at least one.

also, if you're interested in reading more into Nietzsche, and especially his stance of cultivating high culture, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, On the Genealogy of Morality and Ecce Homo are great places to start

and thanks to Chance & David for restarting the tale.

#messays #selected