Cycle

Across philosophical traditions, various terms and concepts are used to express the notion of cycles, which generally involves the idea of recurrence, repetition, and circularity, contrasting with the Western linear view of time.

Western Philosophical Traditions Western philosophy, while largely dominated by linear time perspectives since the rise of Christianity, has had specific concepts of cycles:

Kyklos (κύκλος): An ancient Greek term for “cycle” or “circle” used by Plato, Aristotle, and Polybius to describe the cycle of governments or the circular movements of heavenly bodies (celestial cycle).
Eternal Recurrence / Eternal Return (German: Ewige Wiederkunft): A prominent modern concept most famously associated with Friedrich Nietzsche, positing that all events in the universe will recur ad infinitum in the exact same sequence.
Revolutio / Revolution: Originally a Latin term in astronomy for the circular course or “uniform rotation” of planets, which in the early modern era came to also mean a radical, irreversible political transformation, illustrating the shift from a strictly circular to a more linear concept of change.
Circulatio / Circulation: In classical Latin, a synonym for cyclus in an astronomical sense, later used in alchemy and early biology (e.g., circulation of blood) to denote a process that returns or closes upon itself.
Dialectic: While not strictly a term for “cycle,” in Hegelianism it describes a process of development through thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, which some interpret as a “wheel turning” endlessly, though Hegel himself envisioned a resolution.
Saeculum: A Roman term for a long human life span or a generational cycle, used in some social cycle theories.
Uniform Rotation: A term used by R.G. Collingwood to characterize the Indo-Hellenic mode of cyclical movements in both the cosmos and human world, drawing an analogy to the consistent, repetitive motion of celestial bodies. [

Eastern Philosophical Traditions Eastern philosophical traditions, particularly those of Indian origin, deeply embed the concept of cyclicality into their fundamental worldviews:

Samsara (Sanskrit: संसार): The core concept of the “cycle of aimless drifting, wandering, or mundane existence,” referring to the continuous cycle of death and rebirth (reincarnation or transmigration) driven by karma.
Karma / Karmic Cycle: The natural principle of cause and effect that determines the conditions of one’s future lives within the cycle of samsara.
Bhavachakra: Often referred to as the Wheel of Time or Wheel of Existence, an illustrative representation in Buddhism of the six realms of existence in which a sentient being can be reborn.
Mahayuga: In Hindu philosophy, a “Great Age” or immense cosmic cycle that signifies the periodic creation, sustainment, and destruction of the cosmos and the human world, repeating infinitely.
The Tao (Dao): In Taoism, the natural order of the universe, where “reversion is the movement of the Tao” and everything endlessly returns to its source, often analogized to the flow of water.
Yin and Yang: In Chinese thought, these are the alternating, complementary principles (passive female and dynamic male) whose balance and interaction create the cyclical rhythm of the universe.
Dynastic Cycle: A specific Chinese notion that views human affairs and history in terms of a “chain of recurring links,” where dynasties rise, flourish, collapse, and are replaced, analogous to a short-term biological cycle.

Indigenous Traditions

Cyclical Time: Many Indigenous worldviews perceive time as circular or spiral-like, rooted in natural cycles like seasons, lunar phases, and generations, emphasizing harmony with natural rhythms and the interconnectedness of past, present, and future.

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[1] https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2241&context=ccr

[2] https://philosophyball.miraheze.org/wiki/Cyclism

[3] https://lifestyle.sustainability-directory.com/term/cyclical-living-philosophy/

[4] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/25/about-time-why-western-philosophy-can-only-teach-us-so-much

[5] https://www.facebook.com/HinduTemplesinWorld/posts/a-day-and-night-of-brahma-is-864-billion-years-halfway-through-which-is-roughly-/999813229029104/

[6] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8275509/

[7] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40656-021-00425-3

[8] https://philosophyball.miraheze.org/wiki/Cyclism

[9] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8275509/

[10] wikipedia/en/Dialectic