Biography of Heraclitus

Heraclitus (540 BC – 470 BC) was a pre-Socratic philosopher considered one of the founders of Greek metaphysics. He was born in Ephesus, Greece, which was located in Ionia on the western coast of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). It is said that he came from an ancient aristocratic family. He inherited political ideas from his family that were at odds with the democratic Athenian style, and Heraclitus sympathized with Persian King Darius I the Great. His enigmatic character earned him the nickname “the Dark One of Ephesus.” It is known that he wrote a book called On Nature, which was divided into three parts: the universe, politics, and theology. However, there is no evidence of this work, and what we know about this philosopher comes from fragments, interpretations of other philosophers of the time, quotations, references, and comments.

However, the appearance of complete aphorisms suggests that his style of thought was oracular. This has led some to believe that Heraclitus did not write any texts, following the idea that his teachings were purely oral. In this sense, the work of his disciples may have been to record his postulates in the form of sentences. Heraclitus explained natural phenomena by attributing an important role to fire, and he claimed that fire is the source of everything. For the Greek, fire would be the archetypal form of matter, because it has the ability to change everything.

“This world, which is the same for all, was not created by any of the gods or men, but has always been, is, and will be an eternal fire that is ignited according to a regular order and extinguished according to a regular order” – Heraclitus.

Heraclitus: fire and perpetual becoming.

Fire is the creator of the common constituent of all things and the main cause of all the changes that occur in nature. If we talk about the elements of nature, following Heraclitus, it would be in order: fire, air, water, earth. In addition, the Greek stated that Everything flows and nothing remains. Something very important is that the Greek conceived a universe in perpetual becoming. The engine of that eternal mutability is the opposition of opposites; such opposition is the cause of the becoming of things. In short, if health did not exist, there would be no illness, and so with satiety and hunger, day and night, life and death or good and evil: they are interdependent. The balance of the universe is maintained thanks to the continuous relationship between opposites, which gives rise to changes that compensate each other reciprocally, this will ensure that change in one direction will eventually lead to another change in the opposite direction, avoiding chaotic preponderance and maintaining the total stability of the cosmos.

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.” – Heraclitus.

Logos

The theory of logos by Heraclitus can be interpreted as an internal harmonious law that reveals the coherence and balance of the universe. To be a wise man, it is necessary to understand this internal logic, since wisdom consists in understanding how the world works. This understanding must be the basis of moderation and self-knowledge, which Heraclitus considered as ethical ideals for man. His thought was studied by Parmenides

, who claimed that the existing is one and immutable, in contrast to Heraclitus’s theory that everything is change and incessant becoming. This classic antinomy in Greek philosophy laid the foundations for the development of metaphysics and dialectics.

It is said that the death of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus was caused by dropsy, an affliction that would have been caused by his misanthropy and his retreat to the mountain, where he fed exclusively on herbs. Heraclitus was one of the great philosophers who contributed to the growth of Greece. He shared the idea of Tales of Miletus that explanations about the creation of the universe should not be sought in religion or in the gods, but that man had the ability to give a rational explanation to what was happening around him.

The main contributions of Heraclitus.

The main contributions of Heraclitus center on the theory of fire as the fundamental element, the mobility of the universe, duality and opposition, and the principle of causality. According to him, everything has a cause, but not everything has the same cause. He also developed the theory of logos, understanding that this element was incomprehensible to man, although it was always present. Although everything constantly changed, that did not mean that there was no order, and in that sense, the logos was part of this order. Indirectly, Heraclitus also provided some tools to determine and understand a society, and exposed questions related to the ideal state of things.

Plato contributed decisively to forge the image of the philosopher, and after Parmenides and Heraclitus, other thinkers tried to reach an eclectic synthesis, for example, pluralists like Empedocles tried to transfer the immutability of being exposed by Parmenides to elements such as the four elements, Anaxagoras did it to homeomerias, and atomists to the atom. However, the eternal becoming of Heraclitus was always present, in one way or another, in the forces that combine and govern these elements.

Although Heraclitus was unpopular in his time and despised by later biographers, his main contribution was his understanding of the formal unity of the world of experience. In modern times, Hegel was inspired by his thought in developing the theory of becoming deeply.

Heraclitus’ phrases

• “It is granted to every man to know himself and to meditate wisely”
• “An abundance of knowledge does not teach men to be wise”.
• “God is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, hunger and satisfaction. And changes like fire”.
• “In the circle, the beginning and the end are confused”.
• “It is necessary to know that war is common and justice is discord, and that everything happens according to discord and necessity”.
• “The soul is stained with the color of its thoughts. Think only of those things that are in line with your principles and that can see the light of day”.