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Amor fati is Latin for “love of fate”. Friedrich Nietzsche made the phrase famous in 1882: it means not only putting up with what happens, hardship included, but embracing it as a necessary part of your life. The Stoics had taught a similar acceptance nearly two thousand years earlier.

The Gay Science, 1882

Philosophy

The story behind the card

Nietzsche, a 19th-century German philosopher, first used the phrase in The Gay Science (1882), in a passage written for the new year. There he resolves to learn to see what is necessary in things as beautiful, and one day to be only a yes-sayer. In Ecce Homo, written in 1888, he called amor fati his formula for greatness in a human being: wanting nothing in one's life to be otherwise, in the past, the future or for all eternity. The Latin words do not appear in the ancient Stoics, but the idea is close to theirs. The Greek Stoic teacher Epictetus advised his students not to wish that events would happen as they want, but to want them to happen as they do. The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius urged himself in his Meditations to love only what fate brings him.

Türkçe oku
Amor fati, Latincede “kader sevgisi” demektir ve deyimi 1882'de Friedrich Nietzsche ünlü kıldı. Nietzsche'ye göre mesele, başa geleni zorluklarıyla birlikte yalnızca sineye çekmek değil, hayatın olmazsa olmaz bir parçası olarak gönülden benimsemektir. Stoacılar da neredeyse iki bin yıl önce buna benzer bir kabullenişi öğütlemişti.
Şen Bilim, 1882

19. yüzyılda yaşamış Alman filozof Nietzsche, deyimi ilk kez Şen Bilim'de (1882), yeni yıl için yazdığı bir bölümde kullandı. Orada, olup bitenlerdeki kaçınılmazı güzel görmeyi öğrenmek ve bir gün yalnızca “evet” diyen biri olmak istediğini söyler. 1888'de yazdığı Ecce Homo'da ise amor fati için “insandaki büyüklüğün formülü” der: Geçmişte, gelecekte, sonsuza dek hiçbir şeyin başka türlü olmasını istememek. Bu Latince sözcükler antik Stoacılarda geçmez, ama fikir onlarınkine çok yakındır. Stoacı filozof Epiktetos, öğrencilerine olayların istedikleri gibi olmasını dilememelerini, olduğu gibi olmasını istemelerini öğütledi. Roma imparatoru Marcus Aurelius da Kendime Düşünceler'de, yalnızca kaderin önüne getirdiğini sevmesi gerektiğini kendine hatırlatır.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Amor fati
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