Nietzsche's Interrogative, Not Imperative

Thus far, the discussion has subscribed to the characterization of Nietzsche's articulation of Eternal Recurrence as an 'imperative'. The main value of such a characterization is the fruitfulness of the evoked comparison with Kant's Moral Principle. However, on fresh consideration, a different grammatical classification more suitably expresses Nietzsche's treatment of his doctrine, sharpens its contrast with Kant's Principle, and better illuminates one of the flaws of the latter. As has been discussed, Kant has difficulty explaining how his Principle compels disobedience, or, to put it conversely, how disobedience is possible, for, according to him, it can be only freely adopted or rejected, whereas, Freedom, on his account, emerges only in the acting upon the Principle, i. e. only subsequent to its being adopted. Consequently, apparently alert to the problem, he begins to vaguely allude to a second type of Freedom, one which is not derived from the Principle, without incorporating it into his System. In contrast, Eternal Recurrence lacks the kind of compelling power behind it that Reason supplies Kant's Principle. Hence, the decisive moment of Nietzsche's encounter with Eternal Recurrence, i. e. whether or not to affirm it, completely transcends any pre-motivation. In other words, Nietzsche's, and anyone's, affirmation of Eternal Recurrence is an absolutely free act, which aligns the doctrine with the 'Existentialisms' of Kierkergaard, Jaspers and Sartre, that revolve around moments of absolute freedom and complete responsibility, though, arguably, the standard association of Heidegger with this group is problematic. Furthermore, highlighting such Freedom illuminates, by contrast, its lingering obscurity in Kant's System. Now, a response to either explicit or veiled compulsion is not truly free, so a free choice is not the response to an imperative. But, what it can be a response to is an interrogative formulation. So, in other words, the more accurate expression of Nietzsche's challenge is 'Can you will Eternal Recurrence?'