Eternal Recurrence and samsara

Time and Personal Identity in Nietzsche’s Theory of Eternal Recurrence

Friedrich Nietzsche’s theory of eternal recurrence is an essential part of his mature philosophy, but the theory’s metaphysical commitments and practical implications are both obscure. In this essay I consider only the metaphysical elements of the theory, with the aim of determining whether it is possible that we live our lives infinitely many times, as the theory maintains. I argue that the po...

Pipe Dreams: Eternal Recurrence and Simulacrum and Foucault's Ekphrasis of Magritte

Inflation and Eternal Inflation

The basic workings of inflationary models are summarized, along with the arguments that strongly suggest that our universe is the product of inflation. The mechanisms that lead to eternal inflation in both new and chaotic models are described. Although the infinity of pocket universes produced by eternal inflation are unobservable, it is argued that eternal inflation has real consequences in te...

Eternal inflation and its implications ‡

I summarize the arguments that strongly suggest that our universe is the product of inflation. The mechanisms that lead to eternal inflation in both new and chaotic models are described. Although the infinity of pocket universes produced by eternal inflation are unobservable, it is argued that eternal inflation has real consequences in terms of the way that predictions are extracted from theore...

Eternal domination: criticality and reachability

We show that for every minimum eternal dominating set, D, of a graph G and every vertex v ∈ D, there is a sequence of attacks at the vertices of G which can be defended in such a way that an eternal dominating set not containing v is reached. The study of the stronger assertion that such a set can be reached after a single attack is defended leads to the study of graphs which are critical in th...