Metaphysics#
Summary#
The metaphysical concerns in these texts range from Stoic acceptance of cosmic order to Nietzschean skepticism about fundamental categories. Marcus Aurelius presents nature as a universal ordering principle that orchestrates all change, teaching that loss is merely transformation and that all things are formed to change and perish so others may exist in continuous succession. He holds the soul to be a rational governing principle connected to one universal intelligent principle distributed among all individuals. Nietzsche challenges these classical certainties, critiquing the “thing-in-itself” as an unfounded metaphysical prejudice and questioning whether the soul is anything more than a grammatical convention. He proposes that all causality might ultimately reduce to the Will to Power, and that nature itself is boundlessly indifferent rather than providentially ordered.
Thing-in-itself ↖ Beyond Good and Evil
Causality ↖ Beyond Good and Evil
Causa sui ↖ Beyond Good and Evil
Soul ↖ Beyond Good and Evil ↖ Meditations
Soul-atomism ↖ Beyond Good and Evil
Atomism ↖ Beyond Good and Evil
Materialism ↖ Beyond Good and Evil
Nature ↖ Beyond Good and Evil ↖ Meditations
Universal Nature ↖ Meditations