ARGUMENTS: Symbols and metaphors as fundamental elements in Nietzsche's conception of “The Eternal Return of the Same.”

Abstract

This article analyzes the role of symbol, metaphor, and analogy as fundamental elements in Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical discourse, focusing on the notion of the “eternal return of the same.” The author argues that this concept cannot be adequately understood through strict conceptual logic or traditional argumentative schemes, but rather through Nietzsche’s deliberate use of rhetorical devices that express a boundary philosophical experience. Drawing on argumentation theory, the study examines how Nietzsche employs images, symbolic figures, and characters such as Zarathustra to convey a radical conception of time, understood neither as linear succession nor as a closed cycle, but as a dynamic structure of affirmative repetition of difference. The article reviews several interpretations of the eternal return—cosmic, ethical, and ontological—engaging with thinkers such as Heidegger, Deleuze, and Safranski, and shows that Nietzsche’s proposal entails a profound reconfiguration of metaphysics, morality, and the understanding of the present. It concludes that metaphor does not weaken Nietzsche’s philosophy; rather, it is the indispensable means for expressing a conception of time, existence, and vital affirmation that exceeds the limits of modern conceptual language.