Hölderlin and the universal: example of “Fate” (das Schicksal), part 1.

In an era where neostoicism is experiencing a revival — largely due to the pressures of neoliberalism — it becomes especially interesting to explore this trend. Neostoicism arises as both a consequence of the precariousness of individual lives under neoliberalism and as an attempt to overcome this precarity through self-empowerment. However, it is worth examining how this revival contrasts with earlier engagements with Stoicism, particularly in the works of poets and philosophers like Hölderlin. In his middle phase, especially in poems such as Das Schicksal, Hölderlin’s relationship to Stoic philosophy offers insights that are quite different from the contemporary neostoicist approach.

While Hölderlin’s engagement with Stoicism is complex and cannot be fully unpacked in a short discussion, a few key points can be drawn from Das Schicksal. It’s worth noting that the figurative and poetic language of Hölderlin’s work would be foreign to today’s neostoicist coaches or philosophers, who typically prioritize a language of immediacy focused on self-empowerment and individualism. This contrast highlights a significant shift: the neostoic revival is closely tied to particularist thinking, a framework heavily influenced by neoliberal ideology.

Under neoliberalism, every individual is encouraged to invest in their particular identity, which becomes commodified. As Todd McGowan explains, capitalism thrives when individuals see themselves primarily as isolated subjects, deeply identified with their particular identity. This identification strengthens capitalism’s hold, as “the more we imagine ourselves as identical to our particular identity, the more we see ourselves as isolated subjects, which is what capitalism requires. Capitalist subjects see themselves as isolated monads, and identification with one’s particularity produces a sense of isolation. It is only when freedom becomes a struggle for universal freedom that it challenges the capitalist behemoth” (McGowan 2020, 16).

Capitalism, McGowan argues, feeds on the multiplicity of particular identities, turning them into commodities that can be marketed and sold. For instance, “the goth can buy trench coats and dark eyeliner, while the jock can purchase sweatpants and jerseys” (McGowan 2020, 17). Even if an individual does not overly invest in a particular appearance, this variety of identity fuels the capitalist system by creating more opportunities for the production of desires and needs. More importantly, identifying too strongly with particularity traps individuals within the capitalist framework, preventing them from thinking in terms of universality — an approach that could challenge the system at its core. Neoliberalism is a system of totality that thrives on fragmenting thought and isolating subjects, leading them to focus on particular struggles for identity recognition rather than universal liberation.

This brief reflection on neostoicism sets the stage for considering Hölderlin’s engagement with Stoicism. While contemporary neostoicism focuses on self-empowerment within the confines of neoliberalism, Hölderlin’s exploration of Stoic themes, especially through German Idealism, moves in a different direction (but the most interesting thing is that never did Hölderlin really live up to this ideal). His work, particularly in Das Schicksal, offers a space to rethink universality — not as a form of totality but as something distinct, often framed through the concept of fate. The universal is however not fate, but rather the rupture in fate, a disruption through the work of the signifier, a necessary failure or limit to any kind of cosmological thinking.

Hölderlin’s engagement with Stoicism is not straightforward, and by the end of his career, he largely moved away from certain Stoic ideals. However, his poem Das Schicksal still provides an important perspective, allowing us to conceive of universality as something separate from the oppressive totality often associated with fate. Here, Hölderlin presents a vision where fate, rather than being an inescapable totality, becomes a tool to explore deeper philosophical questions about human freedom and the possibility of transcendence through the productive capacities of the signifier.

Das Schicksal

Προσκυνουντες την εἱμαρμενην, σοφοι. (Proskynountes tēn heimarmenēn, sophoi — eng: “the wise, bowing to fate”, ger: “Die das Schicksal fußfällig verehren, sind weise.”

Aeschylus

Als von des Friedens heilgen Talen,
Wo sich die Liebe Kränze wand,
Hinüber zu den Göttermahlen
Des goldnen Alters Zauber schwand,
Als nun des Schicksals ehrne Rechte,
Die große Meisterin, die Not,
Dem übermächtigen Geschlechte
Den langen, bittern Kampf gebot,

Da sprang er aus der Mutter Wiege,
Da fand er sie, die schöne Spur
Zu seiner Tugend schwerem Siege,
Der Sohn der heiligen Natur;
Der hohen Geister höchste Gabe,
Der Tugend Löwenkraft begann
Im Siege, den ein Götterknabe
Den Ungeheuern abgewann.

Es kann die Lust der goldnen Ernte
Im Sonnenbrande nur gedeihn;
Und nur in seinem Blute lernte
Der Kämpfer, frei und stolz zu sein;
Triumph! Die Paradiese schwanden,
Wie Flammen aus der Wolke Schoß,
Wie Sonnen aus dem Chaos, wanden
Aus Stürmen sich Heroen los.

Der Not ist jede Lust entsprossen,
Und unter Schmerzen nur gedeiht
Das Liebste, was mein Herz genossen,
Der holde Reiz der Menschlichkeit;
So stieg, in tiefer Flut erzogen,
Wohin kein sterblich Auge sah,
Stillächelnd aus den schwarzen Wogen
In stolzer Blüte Cypria.

Durch Not vereiniget, beschwuren
Vom Jugendtraume süß berauscht
Den Todesbund die Dioskuren,
Und Schwert und Lanze ward getauscht;
In ihres Herzens Jubel eilten
Sie, wie ein Adlerpaar, zum Streit,
Wie Löwen ihre Beute, teilten
Die Liebenden Unsterblichkeit. –

Die Klagen lehrt die Not verachten,
Beschämt und ruhmlos läßt sie nicht
Die Kraft der Jünglinge verschmachten,
Gibt Mut der Brust, dem Geiste Licht;
Der Greise Faust verjüngt sie wieder;
Sie kömmt, wie Gottes Blitz, heran,
Und trümmert Felsenberge nieder,
Und wallt auf Riesen ihre Bahn.

Mit ihrem heilgen Wetterschlage,
Mit Unerbittlichkeit vollbringt
Die Not an Einem großen Tage,
Was kaum Jahrhunderten gelingt;
Und wenn in ihren Ungewittern
Selbst ein Elysium vergeht,
Und Welten ihrem Donner zittern –
Was groß und göttlich ist, besteht. –

O du, Gespielin der Kolossen,
O weise, zürnende Natur,
Was je ein Riesenherz beschlossen,
Es keimt’ in deiner Schule nur.
Wohl ist Arkadien entflohen;
Des Lebens beßre Frucht gedeiht
Durch sie, die Mutter der Heroen,
Die eherne Notwendigkeit. –

Für meines Lebens goldnen Morgen
Sei Dank, o Pepromene, dir!
Ein Saitenspiel und süße Sorgen
Und Träum und Tränen gabst du mir;
Die Flammen und die Stürme schonten
Mein jugendlich Elysium,
Und Ruh und stille Liebe thronten
In meines Herzens Heiligtum.

Es reife von des Mittags Flamme,
Es reife nun vom Kampf und Schmerz
Die Blüt am grenzenlosen Stamme,
Wie Sprosse Gottes, dieses Herz!
Beflügelt von dem Sturm, erschwinge
Mein Geist des Lebens höchste Lust,
Der Tugend Siegeslust verjünge
Bei kargem Glücke mir die Brust!

Im Heiligsten der Stürme falle
Zusammen meine Kerkerwand,
Und herrlicher und freier walle
Mein Geist ins unbekannte Land!
Hier blutet oft der Adler Schwinge;
Auch drüben warte Kampf und Schmerz!
Bis an der Sonnen letzte ringe,
Genährt vom Siege, dieses Herz.

English translation

From the peaceful valleys of salvation,
Where love weaves garlands,
Over to the divine feast halls,
The magic of the golden age faded away.
When fate’s iron law,
The great mistress, Necessity,
Commanded the powerful race
To endure the long, bitter struggle,

Then he sprang from his mother’s cradle,
Then he found the beautiful trace
To his virtue’s difficult victory,
The son of holy nature;
The highest gift of noble spirits,
The lion’s strength of virtue began
With the victory that a divine child
Won from the monstrous beasts.

The joy of golden harvest
Can only thrive under the burning sun;
And only in his blood did the warrior learn
To be free and proud.
Triumph! The paradises vanished,
Like flames from the bosom of clouds,
Like suns from chaos,
Heroes emerged from storms.

All joy is born from necessity,
And only through pain does it thrive,
The dearest thing my heart has enjoyed,
The gentle charm of humanity;
Thus, raised in deep floods,
Where no mortal eye could see,
Smiling softly from the black waves,
Cypria bloomed in proud splendor.

United by necessity, the Dioscuri,
Drunk with the sweet dream of youth,
Swore an oath of death,
And sword and lance were exchanged;
In the jubilation of their hearts,
They rushed to battle like a pair of eagles,
Like lions sharing their prey,
The lovers shared immortality.

Necessity teaches us to scorn lamentation,
She does not let the strength of youth
Waste away in shame or without glory,
But gives courage to the heart and light to the mind;
She rejuvenates the old man’s fist;
She comes like God’s lightning,
And smashes mountain cliffs,
And walks her path over giants.

With her sacred storm blow,
With implacability, Necessity accomplishes
In one great day
What centuries scarcely achieve;
And when in her tempests
Even an Elysium perishes,
And worlds tremble at her thunder –

What is great and divine endures.
O you, companion of the colossi,
O wise, wrathful nature,
Whatever a giant heart has conceived,
It sprouted only in your school.
Indeed, Arcadia has fled;
Life’s better fruit thrives
Through her, the mother of heroes,

The iron necessity.
For the golden morning of my life,
Be thanked, O Pepromene!
You gave me a lyre and sweet sorrows,
And dreams and tears;
The flames and storms spared
My youthful Elysium,
And peace and quiet love throned
In the sanctuary of my heart.

May it ripen under the midday flame,
May it ripen now from struggle and pain,
The blossom on the boundless stem,
Like a sprout of God, this heart!
Winged by the storm, may my spirit
Reach life’s highest joy,
The victorious joy of virtue
May renew my heart in meager fortune!

In the holiest of storms,
Let my prison wall fall,
And my spirit flow forth, freer and more glorious,
Into the unknown land!
Here, the eagle’s wing often bleeds;
And over there, struggle and pain await!
Until this heart, nourished by victory,
Struggles until the sun’s last light.

The traditional reading of this poem suggests that, through an encounter with the necessity of fate, the lyrical speaker (the “I”) learns to endure struggle. Hölderlin is here inspired by the neostoic paradigm in Germany in the whose most important figure was Justus Lipsius (his work De constantia — Über die Standhaftigkeit). The lyrical speaker tends to blend into the background as singular in favor of the more general praise of virtue. In fact, he does not occur that much as a speaker, but instead transubstanties individual experience into common and generalizable occurrence. Fate in this context is not understood as a passive, fatalistic force. Rather, it is something that pushes human strength to its highest potential, as seen in the example of Hercules in the second strophe. This is a key aspect of the poem’s exploration of human resilience.

The poem’s metric pattern reinforces this sense of order. Hölderlin combines iambic trimeter and tetrameter, a structure typical of his middle period, where he blends classical Greek and German poetic traditions. The lines alternate between longer and shorter lengths, while the meter often revolves around iambs (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, or da-DUM). The alternating rhyme scheme (ABAB) provides a sense of cohesion and balance, mirroring the structured universe the poem depicts. The formal precision suggests a cosmic order, a reflection of how the universe operates under unchangeable laws — a concept central to both the Stoic philosophy embedded in the poem and Hölderlin’s early poetic style. Later, Hölderlin would depart from this more structured form, moving toward a more “mad” and fragmented style. (one only needs to compare this last strophe’s eagle, where the eagle bleeds, but overcome this through the paradoxical “eagle in captivity” (gefangener Aar), in Der Einziger (first edition).

Although the poem contains narrative elements, it resists a linear progression. Instead, it evokes a timeless cycle of eternal events, further reinforcing the idea of cosmic order and unchangeability. This cyclical view suggests that the speaker is not caught in a specific historical moment but in an ongoing, universal experience. Precisely because, the poem draws on Schiller’s influence (it was published in Schiller’s journal in Neuen Thalia, in 1793, it lacks the intensity and singularity of voice that would come to characterize Hölderlin’s later hymns. Nonetheless, it remains an early attempt to grapple with the Stoic ideal of inner strength. For letters discussing the poem see nr. 69, 76, 78, 90.

Central to the poem’s philosophy is the Stoic concept of “Heimarmene” (εἱμαρμένη), introduced in the motto and running through the entire work. Heimarmene, a term from ancient Greek Stoic philosophy, refers to fate or destiny — an unchangeable, predetermined order of events governed by a cosmic or divine principle. This concept aligns with the Stoic belief that nature follows immutable laws, and while individuals cannot control external events, they can govern their inner responses. The speaker in the poem grapples with this idea, much like the Stoic hero Hercules, whose strength and virtue are tested through trials (strophes 11 and 14). This trial (probatio) is the structuring principle of the poem, emphasizing that virtue is only realized through hardship.

The lyrical I’s encounter with fate mirrors Hercules’ journey in neo-stoic tradition, shifting from physical strength to a focus on inner resilience. The poem celebrates this virtue through various examples, each reinforcing the lesson that one must not passively accept fate but find strength in the struggle. As a quote from Aeschylus makes clear, the wisdom the poem seeks to convey is not about bowing to fate in a passive, fatalistic sense. Instead, it is about discovering inner strength through adversity. To wish for an easier fate would miss the point. It is precisely in its harshness — its “iron necessity” — that fate becomes a teacher of virtue.

This reading of the poem, upheld by many Hölderlin scholars, positions endurance as the key message. We should perhaps rather say: identification with one’s particular identity through endurance and resilience. What cannot be changed must be accepted, but there is a form of transcendence in that acceptance. This is why, for Hölderlin, as with other German Idealists, tragedy holds a sublime power. Tragedy teaches us about freedom, but only through the inescapability of fate. The “heart nourished by victory” in the poem is not victorious over fate itself (which would make fate contingent), but through the acceptance of one’s finitude. It is important to note, however, that this view contrasts with Hölderlin’s later, more radical ideas in works like Remarks on Oedipus (Anmerkungen zum Oedipus) and On the Tragic (Über das Tragische). In those later works, the hero does not merely endure fate but is elevated through it.

This acceptance of fate also entails recognizing that there is no such thing as perfect happiness in finite life, a sentiment echoed in the line “Arcadia has fled.” One must learn to love hardships, rather than wishing them away. (this is something Hölderlin always ‘struggled’ with, as he said he could never be one of the “men”, Männer, but it is precisely this failure to be a man that provides his poems with the intensity that is relevant for us today). So, this raises a crucial question: Where is the universal in this philosophy of endurance?

The universal is not found in the mere “necessity of fate,” though many have interpreted the poem in that way. While fate is necessary and universal from the perspective of finite beings, this is not the true universal. The universal does not reside in a static presence. Instead, it is revealed through the very failure of any structure, including fate, to fully account for itself. The fact that there is even a subject who can identify with or resist this “iron necessity” reflects a deeper necessity than fate alone. In Hegelian terms, this dynamic “posits the presuppositions” of existence. Fate emerges as a presupposition that gives meaning to particular lives through struggle, but even this presupposition is not seen as something absolute. This tension does not lead to an idealistic overcoming of all obstacles, as Hegel is sometimes portrayed, but rather to a reconciliation with obstacles as necessary.

The universal, or in more German Idealist terms, the “absolute,” is not a totality of obstacles plus their overcoming. The notion that one must accept both good and evil as part of a cosmic balance is far removed from the radicality of Hölderlin’s poetry. While this poem is simpler than his later hymns, it still avoids such a dualistic view. This can be seen in the poem’s symmetrical structure, which seems to mirror the presupposition of “iron necessity” and the ideal of the balanced individual who lives with moderation. However, we must distinguish between two types of necessity. Philosopher Todd McGowan, in his book Universality and Identity Politics (2020), offers a helpful distinction. McGowan argues that universality is often confused with totality or totalitarianism — where a universal is simply an inflated particularity that imposes itself on other particulars. However, universality is not a common essence or coalition of identities; instead, it is a constitutive absence — what fails within each structure to fully be itself.

“When we think of universality in terms of absence rather than presence, it ceases to appear as an overarching whole that leaves no room for particular difference and becomes the basis for the subject’s singularity. I attain my singularity through my embrace of the universal freedom and equality” (p. 24).

Universality, then, is not a possession. It is not a common essence “above” particular differences like “human being.” Rather, it is a rupture in the given structure. Singularity is not identical to particularity. Through the universal rupture, the subject attains singularity in how it relates to particular identities. While Hölderlin’s poem still presents a speaker who models his singularity through a specific identity (the Stoic hero strengthened by virtue), we can also recognize the possibility of identifying with the break from particular identities — an insight that aligns more closely with Hölderlin’s later work.

Returning to McGowan’s example: the New England Patriots are not defined by their dominance, nor by the sum of all NFL teams. Universality lies in the barriers the Patriots encounter, which both propel them forward and prevent them from ultimate victory. These barriers are manifestations of an internal limit within the team, not just external obstacles. This internal limit drives their striving and serves as an expression of universality.

Applying this to Hölderlin’s poem, the universal is not the “fate” or “iron necessity.” Nor is it a simple dualism between fate and the finite subject. Instead, the universal emerges from the failure of the particular identity to ever be complete. As Freud would suggest, subjectivity is founded on a split; there is no “immediate self” as the Stoic imagines, even when he tries to align himself with divine laws. The Stoic hero’s inability to explain how contingency arises from a supposedly perfect nature hints at this deeper rupture. Thus, the absolute or universal is not a sum of all elements or the totality of being. Universality is the break — the rupture that prevents each system from fully coinciding with itself. The speaker’s repeated listing of Stoic virtues reflects the constant drive to “get it right,” but also the necessity of failure in this process. These failures are not incidental but systematic, more essential than any vision of a complete cosmos governed by divine laws (the Heimarmene).

In psychoanalytic terms, once we enter the realm of signifiers, the cosmos no longer operates under divine causal laws. Signifiers distort these laws, and the projected “iron necessity,” far from revealing a radical truth we must accept or reject, is something of a relief compared to the universal rupture underlying particular identities. However, we must wait for Hölderlin’s later hymns to fully explore this insight.

Bibliography:

Todd Mcgowan: Universality and Identity Politics. Polity. 2020.

Friedrich Hölderlin. Sämtliche Gedichte. Text und Kommentar (ed. Jochen Schmidt). Deutscher Klassiker Verlag. 2020.