Adamism, Platonism, Repetition

The two predominant Cosmological traditions, in at least 'the West', can be called 'Adamism' and 'Platonism'. According to the former, all events are copies of some privileged original, while according to latter, they are instances of some eternal archetype. Part of the originality of Whitehead's system is to combine the two, with 'God' as both primordial existent and an embodiment of all the eternal archetypes. In contrast, a theory of Eternal Recurrence, regardless of Nietzsche's intentions for it, is neither Adamist nor Platonist--it recognizes neither some privileged original nor the existence of any entity that transcends the cycle of events. Now, the meaning of 'repetition' is a function of fundamental principle--in Adamism, it denotes any copying of the original, while in Platonism, it refers to any instantiation of a universal. In contrast, in a theory of Eternal Recurrence, it is itself the fundamental principle, not a derivative one. One of Deleuze's primary aims in Difference and Repetition is to establish 'Repetition' as such a fundamental principle.