Editing Eternal return (section)

===Stoicism===
The Stoics, possibly inspired by the Pythagoreans,<ref>{{cite book |last=Zeller |first=Eduard |translator=Oswald J. Reichel |date=1880 |title=The Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics |url=https://archive.org/details/thestoicsepicure00zelluoft/page/166/mode/2up?view=theater |location=London |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co|pages=166–167}}</ref> incorporated the theory of eternal recurrence into their natural philosophy. According to [[Stoic physics]], the universe is periodically destroyed in an immense conflagration (''[[ekpyrosis]]''), and then experiences a rebirth (''[[palingenesis]]''). These cycles continue for eternity, and the same events are exactly repeated in every cycle.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sellers |first=John |date=2006 |title=Stoicism |url=https://archive.org/details/stoicism0000sell/page/98/mode/2up?view=theater |url-access=registration|publisher=Acumen |page=99 |isbn=978-1-84465-053-8}}</ref> The Stoics may have found support for this doctrine in the concept of the [[Great Year]],<ref>{{cite book |last=White |first=Michael J. |chapter=Stoic Natural Philosophy (Physics and Cosmology) |editor-last=Inwood |editor-first=Brad |date=2003 |title=The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=34ZsoQBoOU8C&pg=PA141 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=141–142 |isbn=0-521-77985-5}}</ref> the oldest known expression of which is found in [[Plato]]'s ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]''. Plato hypothesised that one complete cycle of time would be fulfilled when the sun, moon and planets all completed their various circuits and returned to their original positions.<ref>Plato, ''Timaeus'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0180%3Atext%3DTim.%3Asection%3D39d 39d].</ref>

Sources differ as to whether the Stoics believed that the contents of each new universe would be one and the same with those of the previous universe, or only so similar as to be indistinguishable.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/#Phys |title=Stoicism: Physical Theory |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |accessdate=11 December 2021}}</ref> The former point of view was attributed to the Stoic [[Chrysippus]] (c.&nbsp;279 – c.&nbsp;206 BC) by [[Alexander of Aphrodisias]], who wrote:<ref>{{cite book |last=Salles |first=Ricardo |editor-last=Salles |editor-first=Ricardo |date=2005 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vlYTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA107 |chapter=On the Individuation of Times and Events in Orthodox Stoicism |title=Metaphysics, Soul, and Ethics in Ancient Thought |page=107 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=0-19-926130-X}}</ref>

{{blockquote|They hold that after the conflagration all the same things come to be again in the world numerically, so that even the same peculiarly qualified individual as before exists and comes to be again in that world, as Chrysippus says in his books ''On the World''.}}

On the other hand, [[Origen]] (c.&nbsp;185 – c.&nbsp;253 AD) characterises the Stoics as claiming that the contents of each cycle will not be identical, but only indistinguishable:<ref>{{cite book |translator=Henry Chadwick |date=1965 |title=Origen: Contra Celsum |publisher=Cambridge University Press |at=p. 238 (book IV, section 68)}}</ref>

{{blockquote|To avoid supposing that Socrates will live again, they say that it will be some one indistinguishable from Socrates, who will marry some one indistinguishable from Xanthippe, and will be accused by men indistinguishable from Anytus and Meletus.}}

Origen also records a heterodox version of the doctrine, noting that some Stoics suggest that "there is a slight and very minute difference between one period and the events in the period before it".<ref>Chadwick 1965, pp. 279–280 (book V, section 20).</ref> This was probably not a widely-held belief, as it represents a denial of the [[determinism|deterministic]] viewpoint which stands at the heart of Stoic philosophy.<ref>{{harvnb|White|2003|page=143}}</ref>