Heraclitus contribution to philosophy

Account summary page Subjects do not possess incompatible properties at the same time, but at different times. On the Soul. On Rhetoric. Similar to his views on rivers, Heraclitus believed "the Sun is new each day.

Heraclitus

Heraclitus

Heraclitus by Johannes Moreelse

Bornc.&#; BC

Ephesus, Ionia, Persian Empire

Diedc.&#; BC (age c.&#;60)
EraAncient philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
SchoolIonian

Main interests

Metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics, cosmology

Notable ideas

Logos, "everything flows", unity of opposites

Influenced

  • Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Stoicism, Hegel, Engels, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Whitehead, Spengler, Popper, McKenna, Pater, D.

    H. Lawrence

Heraclitus of Ephesus[1] or Herakleitos (c – BC) was a pre-SocraticGreekphilosopher. He was a native of Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor.

His teaching, as we have it now, is a series of epigrams.

This means his teachings are sayings and remarks, rather than systematic essays. Heraclitus is famous for his doctrine of change being central to the universe. His famous sayings, "All is flux", and "You cannot step twice into the same river" is still remembered today.[2] Another of his sayings appeals to some psychologists:

  • "You cannot discover the depths of the psyche, even if you travelled every road to do so, such is the depth of its meaning".[3]

Often it is difficult to understand what he was trying to say.

Heraclitus biography summary page by color Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz stated in The Monadology "all bodies are in a state of perpetual flux like rivers. Over time, the opposites change into each other: [ 51 ] [ 52 ] "Mortals are immortals and immortals are mortals, the one living the others' death and dying the others' life"; [ aj ] "As the same thing in us is living and dead, waking and sleeping, young and old. Fire is the arche Logos Flux Unity of opposites. Accessed 25 May

He believed in the unity of opposites, stating that "the path up and down are one and the same".

  • "Good and bad are the same".[4] In many of these 'opposite ends' pairs, if one never happened, then the other would be meaningless.

His utterance that "all things come to be in accordance with this logos," (literally, "word," "reason," or "account") has been the subject of many interpretations.

Logos became a technical term in philosophy, beginning with Heraclitus, who used the term for a principle of order and knowledge.[5]

Diogenes Laërtius states that Heraclitus' work was "a continuous treatise On Nature, but was divided into three discourses, one on the universe, another on politics, and a third on theology." Theophrastus says (in Diogenes) "&#;some parts of his work are half-finished, while other parts make a strange medley".[6]

Diogenes also tells us that Heraclitus deposited his book as a dedication in the great temple of Artemis, the Artemisium, one of the largest temples of the 6th century BC, and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Ancient temples were regularly used for storing treasures, and were open to private individuals under exceptional circumstances. Many later philosophers refer to the work.

References

[change | change source]

  1. ↑Ancient Greek: Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος — Hērákleitos ho Ephésios, English Heraclitus the Ephesian
  2. ↑Guthrie W.K.C.

    A history of Greek philosophy, vol 1, the earlier presocratics and the pythagoreans. Cambridge University Press.

  3. Heraclitus biography summary page by date
  4. Heraclitus biography summary page by design
  5. Heraclitus biography summary page by numbers

    6. Chapter VII Heraclitus, p

  6. ↑Quoted in Hilgard E.R. Divided consciousness: multiple controls in human thought and action. Expanded edition, New York: John Wiley, p ISBN&#;
  7. ↑Fairbanks, Arthur The first philosophers of Greece. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, London. #57, p
  8. ↑Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy.

    Heraclitus biography summary page Nicomachean Ethics. Heraclitus criticized society and philosophers of his time for failing to grasp the essential nature of change. Ever since German philosopher Immanuel Kant , philosophers have sometimes been divided into rationalists and empiricists. If this interpretation is right, the message of the one river fragment, B12, is not that all things are changing so that we cannot encounter them twice, but something much more subtle and profound.

    2nd ed, Heraclitus.

  9. ↑Laertius, Diogenes. Lives of the eminent philosophers. . Life of Heraclitus, translated by Robert Drew Hicks.

    Heraclitus biography summary page by line Heraclitus saw change as the essence of life and a fundamental truth of existence. Germany: University of Hawaii Press. War is father of all and king of all; and some he manifested as gods, some as men; some he made slaves, some free. Ancient [ edit ].

    ix, 6

  • Robinson T.M. Heraclitus: Fragments: a text and translation with a commentary. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN&#;