Abstract

Nietzsche's metaphysics is based on two cosmic forces: love and nothingness. Part one of my dissertation will focus on Nietzsche's conception of love and how it can, when properly learned, help us overcome nothingness. For Nietzsche, nothingness preys on us all under the guise of nihilism. All life forms wither and die. However, besides the crush of nothingness there stands an untested power. Nietzsche's will to power is the basis for his philosophy of love. One learns to fight nihilism by championing life and spontaneously affirming every moment of one's existence. For Nietzsche, amor fati, or love of fate, is how one frees oneself from loneliness and decay and learns again to love. ;Part two of my dissertation will examine the guises of nothingness in the twentieth century. Boredom, bureaucracy, and anxiety plague us every passing day, causing much cruelty and suffering throughout the world. Applying Nietzschean love, I argue, can conquer these phenomena and fight back the pressing forces of weakness and death