Heraclitus

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Heraclitus of Ephesus (/ˌhɛrəˈklaɪtəs/;[1]

Greek: Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος,
translit. Hērákleitos ho Ephésios; c. 535 –
c. 475 BC,[2] fl. 500 BC)[3][4] was an
Ancient Greek, pre-Socratic Ionian
philosopher and a native of the city of
Ephesus, then part of the Persian Empire.
 Heraclitus

Heraclitus, depicted in engraving from 1825

Born c. 535 BC
Ephesus, Ionia,
Persian Empire

Died c. 475 BC (age c. 60)

Ephesus, Ionia,
Delian League

Notable work On Nature

Era Pre-Socratic
philosophy

Region Western philosophy

School Ionian

Main interests Metaphysics,

epistemology, ethics,
politics, cosmology

Notable ideas Logos, fire is the

arche, unity of
opposites,
"everything flows",
becoming

Influences
Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Bias
of Priene
Influenced
Virtually all subsequent Western
philosophy, especially Heracliteans (e.
g. Cratylus, Antisthenes), Parmenides,
Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Plato,
Stoicism, Hegel, Engels, Lassalle,
Nietzsche, Spengler, Heidegger, Popper,
McTaggart, Whitehead, Jung, Pater, D.
H. Lawrence

His appreciation for wordplay and

oracular expressions, as well as
paradoxical elements in his philosophy,
earned him the epithet "The Obscure"
from antiquity. He wrote a single work,
On Nature, which exclusively remains in
fragments, increasing the obscurity
associated with his life and philosophy;
his cryptic utterances have been the
subject of numerous interpretations. He
has been seen variously as a "material
monist or a process philosopher; a
scientific cosmologist, a metaphysician,
or mainly a religious thinker; an
empiricist, a rationalist, or a mystic; a
conventional thinker or a revolutionary; a
developer of logic or one who denied the
law of non-contradiction; the first
genuine philosopher or an anti-
intellectual obscurantist."[5]
He was of distinguished parentage, but
eschewed his privileged life for a lonely
one as a philosopher. Little else is known
about his early life and education;
however, in future he regarded himself as
self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom. He
was considered a misanthrope given to
depression and became known as "the
weeping philosopher", in contrast to
Democritus, "the laughing philosopher".

Heraclitus believed the world was in

accordance with Logos (literally, "word",
"reason", or "account") as well as
ultimately made of fire. He also believed
in a unity of opposites and harmony in
the world. He was most famous for his
insistence on ever-present change,
known as flux or becoming, as the
characteristic feature of the world, as
stated in the famous saying, "No man
ever steps in the same river twice"; he
additionally believed in the concept
summarised as panta rhei, "everything
flows". This aspect of his philosophy is
contrasted with that of Parmenides, who
believed in being and in the static nature
of the universe. Both had an influence on
Plato and thus, arguably, on all of
Western philosophy.

Life
Heraclitus disliked Pythagoras.

The main source for the life of Heraclitus

is the doxographer Diogenes Laërtius;
however, the author Charles Kahn
questioned the validity of his account as
"a tissue of Hellenistic anecdotes, most
of them obviously fabricated on the basis
of statements in the preserved
fragments".[6] It also seems the stories
about Heraclitus could be invented to
illustrate his character as inferred from
his writings.[5]

Ephesus on the coast of Asia Minor, birthplace of

Heraclitus

The dates during which Heraclitus

remained active are uncertain to
historians. Diogenes Laërtius stated that
Heraclitus flourished in the 69th
Olympiad, 504–501 BC.[7][8] Most believe
Heraclitus was older than Parmenides,
whose views constituted a critical
response to those of Heraclitus, though
the reverse is also possible and it
remains subject to debate.[9][10]
Heraclitus refers to the likes of older
figures such as Pythagoras. Heraclitus is
also silent on Parmenides, yet
Parmenides seems possibly to refer to
him.[9][11][12]

Birth …

Heraclitus was born to an aristocratic

family c. 535 BC in Ephesus,[13] in the
Persian Empire, (presently Efes,
Turkey).[14][15] His dates of birth and
death are based on a life span of 60
years, the age at which Diogenes
Laërtius says he died,[16] with his floruit
in the middle.[a] His father was named
either Blosôn or Herakôn.[7][8] Diogenes
Laërtius says that he abdicated the
kingship (basileia) in favor of his
brother[17] and Strabo confirms that there
was a ruling family in Ephesus
descended from the Ionian founder,
Androclus; according to him, this family
maintained their titles and could sit in the
chief seat at the games, in addition to
various privileges.[18] How much power
the king had is another question, for
Ephesus had been part of the Persian
Empire since 547 BC and was ruled by a
satrap; the aforementioned remained a
more distant figure, as Cyrus the Great
allowed the Ionians considerable
autonomy.

Childhood …

Diogenes Laërtius says that Heraclitus

used to play knucklebones with the
youths 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.[b]
When asked to start making laws he
refused saying that the constitution
(politeia) was ponêra,[19] which can mean
either that it was fundamentally wrong or
that he considered it toilsome. Two
extant letters between Heraclitus and
Darius I, quoted by Diogenes Laërtius, are
undoubtedly later forgeries.[20]

With regard to education, Diogenes

Laërtius says that Heraclitus was
"wondrous" from childhood.[c] Diogenes
relates that Sotion said he was a "hearer"
of Xenophanes, which contradicts
Heraclitus' statement (so says Diogenes
Laërtius) that he had taught himself by
questioning himself. Burnet states in any
case that "... Xenophanes left Ionia
before Herakleitos was born."[21]
Diogenes Laërtius relates that as a boy
Heraclitus had said he "knew nothing"
but later claimed to "know everything".[22]
He "heard no one" but "questioned
himself".[23]

Misanthropy …

Heraclitus (with the face and in the style of

Michelangelo) sits apart from the other
philosophers in Raphael's School of Athens.

Diogenes Laërtius relates that Heraclitus

had a poor opinion of human affairs,[8]
stating "The mysteries practiced among
men are unholy mysteries."[24] Timon of
Phlius is said to have called him a "mob-
reviler". He was not afraid of being a
contrarian, remarking upon an occasion:
"Corpses are more fit to be cast out than
dung."[25]

"Most men are bad" – Bias of Priene

Heraclitus was no advocate of equality,

expressing his opposition within the
statement "One is ten thousand to me, if
he be the best."[26] He is generally
considered an opponent of
democracy,[5]though he believed that "All
men have a claim to self-ascertainment
and sound thinking,"[27] and "Thinking is
common to all."[28] Heraclitus stressed
the heedless unconsciousness of
humankind; he asserted the opinion that
"The waking have one common world,
but the sleeping turn aside each into a
world of his own [idios kosmos]."[29]; he
additionally stated: "Hearing they do not
understand, like the deaf. Of them does
the saying bear witness: 'present, they
are absent.'[30]
He also compares the ignorance of the
average man to dogs: "Dogs, also, bark at
what they do not know."[31] He advises,
"Let us not conjecture randomly about
the most important things"[32] and said "a
fool is excited by every word."[33]

He criticizes Hesiod, Pythagoras,

Xenophanes and Hecataeus as lacking
understanding despite their educated
position,[11] and has the most scorn for
Pythagoras.[12] Though he grants, "Men
that love wisdom must be inquirers into
very many things indeed;"[34] he
additionally stated that "The knowledge
of the most famous persons, which they
guard, is but opinion."[35] Among
additionally notable individuals whom he
criticised are Homer and Archilochus,
who he thought deserved to be
beaten.[36]

The only man of note he praises is Bias

of Priene, one of the Seven Sages of
Greece, known for the maxim "most men
are bad";[37] this remains evident from his
remark "For what thought or wisdom
have they? They follow the poets and
take the crowd as their teacher, knowing
not that 'the many are bad and few good.'
"[38]

He hated the Athenians and his fellow

Ephesians, wishing the latter wealth in
punishment for their wicked ways.[39] The
Ephesians, he believed, would "do well to
end their lives, every grown man of them,
and leave the city to beardless boys, for
that they have driven out Hermodorus,
the worthiest man among them, saying,
'We will have none who is worthiest
among us; or if there be any such, let him
go elsewhere and consort with others.'
"[40]

According to Diogenes Laërtius, this

culminated within misanthropy: "Finally,
he became a hater of his kind
(misanthrope) and wandered the
mountains [...] making his diet of grass
and herbs."
Dropsy and death …

Heraclitus' life as a philosopher was

interrupted by dropsy. The physicians he
consulted were unable to prescribe a
cure. Diogenes Laërtius lists various
stories about Heraclitus' death: In two
versions, Heraclitus was cured of the
dropsy and died of another disease. In
one account, however, the philosopher
"buried himself in a cowshed, expecting
that the noxious damp humour would be
drawn out of him by the warmth of the
manure", while another says he treated
himself with a liniment of cow manure
and, after a day prone in the sun, died
and was interred in the marketplace.
According to Neathes of Cyzicus, after
smearing himself with dung, Heraclitus
was devoured by dogs.[41][42] He died
after 478 BC from a hydropsy.[13]

Burnet has a different theory:

Herakleitos said (fr. 68) that it

was death to souls to become
water; and we are told
accordingly that he died of
dropsy. He said (fr. 114) that
the Ephesians should leave
their city to their children, and
(fr. 79) that Time was a child
playing draughts. We are
therefore told that he refused
to take any part in public life,
and went to play with the
children in the temple of
Artemis. He said (fr. 85) that
corpses were more fit to be cast
out than dung; and we are told
that he covered himself with
dung when attacked with
dropsy. Lastly, he is said to
have argued at great length
with his doctors because of fr.
58. For these tales see Diog.ix.
3–5.[43]
On Nature

Heraclitus deposited his book in the Artemisium.

Heraclitus was known to have produced

a single work on papyrus, On Nature.
Diogenes Laërtius tells us that Heraclitus
deposited his book as a dedication in the
Artemisium. As with the other pre-
Socratics, his writings survive now only in
fragments quoted by other authors;
within the case of Heraclitus, there are
greater than 100 of these quotations.
These are catalogued using the Diels–
Kranz numbering system.

Diogenes Laërtius also states that

Heraclitus' work was "a continuous
treatise...but was divided into three
discourses, one on the universe, another
on politics, and a third on theology." He
does not say whether Heraclitus divided
them this way or if a second individual
did.[5] Theophrastus says (in Diogenes
Laërtius) "...some parts of his work [are]
half-finished, while other parts [made] a
strange medley."[17]

Burnet does not think the work had a

title:
We do not know the title of the
work of Herakleitos.—if,
indeed, it had one— and it is
not easy to form a clear idea of
its contents. We are told that it
was divided into three
discourses: one dealing with
the universe, one political, and
one theological. It is not to be
supposed that this division is
due to Herakleitos himself; all
we can infer is that the work
fell naturally into these three
parts when the Stoic
 commentators took their
editions of it in hand.[43]

We do know the work's opening lines,

proving it was indeed a continuous work.
Aristotle quotes part of the opening line
in the Rhetoric to outline the difficulty in
punctuating Heraclitus without
ambiguity; whether "forever" applied to
"being" or to "prove".[5][44] Sextus
Empiricus in Against the Mathematicians
quotes the whole thing:

Of this Logos being forever do

men prove to be
uncomprehending, both before
 they hear and once they have
heard it. For, though all things
come to pass in accordance
with this Logos, they are like
the unexperienced experiencing
words and deeds such as I
explain when I distinguish each
thing according to its nature
and show how it is. Other men
are unaware of what they do
when they are awake just as
they are forgetful of what they
do when they are asleep.[45]

Heracliteans …
Many subsequent philosophers in this
period refer to the work. For instance,
Kahn states: "Down to the time of
Plutarch and Clement, if not later, the
little book of Heraclitus was available in
its original form to any reader who chose
to seek it out."[6] Diogenes Laërtius
comments concerning the notability of
the book, stating: "the book acquired
such fame that it produced partisans of
his philosophy who were called
Heracliteans."[17] Prominent philosophers
identified as Heracliteans today include
Cratylus and Antisthenes (not to be
confused with the the cynic).

Ancient characterizations
"The Obscure" …

Heraclit by Luca Giordano

At some time in antiquity, Heraclitus

acquired the epithet "The Obscure"; this
generally remains interpreted as denoting
that his major sayings were difficult to
understand, with frequent paradoxes,
metaphors and incipient utterances. In
Metaphysics, Aristotle mentions how
some say Heraclitus denied the law of
noncontradiction, accusing him of a lack
of reasonable explanation.[46] According
to Diogenes Laërtius, Timon of Phlius
called him "the Riddler" (αἰνικτής;
ainiktēs), explaining that Heraclitus wrote
his book "rather unclearly"
(asaphesteron); according to him, this
was intended to allow exclusively the
"capable" to attempt it.[17] Heraclitus
himself wrote: "The lord whose is the
oracle at Delphi neither speaks nor hides
his meaning, but gives a sign."[47]
Heraclitus

By the time of Cicero, this epithet

became "The Dark" (ὁ Σκοτεινός; ho
Skoteinós) as he had spoken nimis
obscurē, "too obscurely", concerning
nature and had done so deliberately in
order to be misunderstood; the
customary English translation of the
aforementioned, however, follows the
Latin form, "The Obscure".[48]
The "weeping philosopher" …

A later tradition referred to Heraclitus as

the "weeping philosopher", as opposed to
Democritus, who is known as the
"laughing philosopher"[49]; this statement
generally referenced their reaction to the
folly of mankind.[50] Diogenes Laërtius
ascribes the theory that Heraclitus did
not complete some of his works because
of melancholia to Theophrastus,[17]
though apparently in Theophrastus's time
this meant impulsiveness. If Stobaeus
writes correctly, Sotion, in the early 1st
century AD was already combining the
two in the imaginative duo of weeping
and laughing philosophers: "Among the
wise, instead of anger, Heraclitus was
overtaken by tears, Democritus by
laughter."[51]

The view is also expressed by the satirist

Juvenal:[52]

The first of prayers, best

known at all the temples, is
mostly for riches... Seeing this
then do you not commend the
one sage Democritus for
laughing... and the master of
the other school Heraclitus for
his tears?
The motif was also adopted by Lucian of
Samosata in his "Sale of Creeds", in
which the duo is sold together as a
complementary product in the satirical
auction of philosophers.[53]

Philosophy
Heraclitus's philosophy of change is
commonly called becoming, and can be
seen in a dialectical relationship
contrasted with Parmenides' concept of
"being".[d] For this reason, Heraclitus and
Parmenides are commonly considered to
be two of the founders of ontology and
the issue of the One and the Many, and
thus pivotal in the history of Western
philosophy and metaphysics.

Heraclitus by Hendrick ter Brugghen

Diogenes Laërtius summarises

Heraclitus's philosophy, stating: "All
things come into being by conflict of
opposites, and the sum of things (τὰ ὅλα
ta hola, "the whole") flows like a
stream."[54]
Logos …

The meaning of Logos (λόγος) is subject

to interpretation; varying definitions
include: "word", "account", "principle",
"plan", "formula", "measure", "proportion"
or "reckoning."[55] Though Heraclitus,
"quite deliberately plays on the various
meanings of logos",[56] there is no
compelling reason to suppose that he
used it in a special technical sense,
significantly different from the way within
which it was used in the ordinary Greek
of his time.[57]

Zeller's opinion of Heraclitean logos

stated:
λόγος  in my [Zeller's] opinion,
refers indeed primarily to the
discourse, but also to the
contents of the discourse, the
truth expressed in it; a
confusion and identification of
different ideas, united and
apparently included in one
word, which should least of all
surprise us in Heracleitus. He
[Heraclitus] says: "This
discourse (the theory of the
world laid down in his work) is
not recognised by men,
although it ever exists (i.e. that
which always exists, contains
the eternal order of things, the
eternal truth), for although all
happens according to it (and
thus its truth is confirmed by
all facts universally) men
behave as if they had never had
any experience of it, when
words or things present
themselves to them, as I here
represent them" (when the
views here brought forward
are shown them by instruction
or by their own perceptions)[58]
The later Stoics understood the Logos as
"the account which governs
everything,"[59] and Hippolytus, a Church
Father in the 3rd century AD, identified it
as meaning the Christian Word of God,
such as in John 1:1, "In the beginning
was the Word (logos) and the Word was
God."[60] Burnet viewed the relationship
between Heraclitean logos and
Johannine logos as fallacious:

In any case, the Johannine

doctrine of the logos has
nothing to do with Herakleitos
or with anything at all in Greek
philosophy, but comes from the
 Hebrew Wisdom literature. See
Rendel Harris, The Origin of
the Prologue to St. John's
Gospel in The Expositor, 1916,
pp. 147 sqq.[61]

Hepesthai to koino "follow the

common" …

Heraclitus's ideas about the Logos are

expressed in three famous but obscure
fragments, with the first cited above, and
two others. Within these, he stated that
individuals must "follow the common"[e]
and not live having "their own judgement
(phronēsis)". He seems to say the Logos
is a public fact perhaps like a proposition
or formula, though he would not have
considered such things as abstract
objects or even immaterial.[62] The last
quote can even be taken to be a
statement against making arguments ad
hominem:

For this reason it is necessary

to follow what is common. But
although the Logos is common,
most people live as if they had
their own private
understanding.[63]

Listening not to me but to the

Logos...[64]
Fire …

But it always was and will be: an ever-living fire.

Like the Milesians before him, Thales

with water, Anaximander with apeiron,
and Anaximenes with air, Heraclitus
considered fire as the arche, the most
fundamental element, which gave rise to
the other elements, perhaps because
living people are warm.[65] Norman
Melchert interpreted Heraclitus as using
"fire" metaphorically, in lieu of Logos, as
the origin of all things.[66] Others see it as
a metaphor for change, like a dancing
and flickering flame, or perhaps all of
these. It is also speculated this shows
the influence of Persian Zoroastrianism,
with its concept of Atar.[67]

This world, which is the same

for all, no one of gods or men
has made. But it always was
and will be: an ever-living fire,
with measures of it kindling,
and measures going out.[68]
 All things are an interchange
for fire, and fire for all things,
just like goods for gold and
gold for goods.[69]

The thunderbolt that steers the

course of all things.[70]

The first quote is the earliest use of

kosmos in any extant Greek text.[5]

On Heraclitus using Fire as a new

primary substance, Burnet writes:

All this made it necessary for

him to seek out a new primary
substance. He wanted not
merely something from which
opposites could be "separated
out," but something which of
its own nature would pass into
everything else, while
everything else would pass in
turn into it. This he found in
Fire, and it is easy to see why, if
we consider the phenomenon
of combustion. The quantity of
fire in a flame burning steadily
appears to remain the same,
the flame seems to be what we
call a "thing." And yet the
 substance of it is continually
changing. It is always passing
away in smoke, and its place is
always being taken by fresh
matter from the fuel that feeds
it. This is just what we want. If
we regard the world as an
"ever-living fire" (fr. 20), we can
understand how it is always
becoming all things, while all
things are always returning to
it.[71]

Unity of opposites …
In a seeming response to
Anaximander,[72][73] Heraclitus also
believed in a unity of opposites.[74] He
characterized all existing entities by pairs
of contrary properties.

Athánatoi thnetoí, thnetoì athántatoi,

"Mortals are immortal, immortals …

mortal"

This is most famously expressed with his

claim "Mortals are immortals and
immortals are mortals, the one living the
others' death and dying the others'
life".[75] This is taken to mean men are
mortal gods, and gods immortal men.[53]
He would also point out that sleep is like
death. He was fond of speaking this way.
He also said "Man kindles a light for
himself in the night-time, when he has
died but is alive. The sleeper, whose
vision has been put out, lights up from
the dead; he that is awake lights up from
the sleeping,"[76] and "All the things we
see when awake are death, even as all
we see in slumber are sleep."[77]

Dike eris, "strife is justice" …

In this union of opposites, of both

generation and destruction, Heraclitus
called the oppositional processes ἔρις
(eris), "strife", and hypothesizes that the
apparently stable state, δίκη (dikê), or
"justice", is a harmony of it.[74]
Anaximander described the same as
injustice.[78] Aristotle mentions that
Heraclitus disliked Homer because he
wished strife would leave the world,
which for Heraclitus would destroy the
world; "there would be no harmony
without high and low notes, and no
animals without male and female, which
are opposites."[79]

War E…

War is the father of all and the king of all.

Heraclitus is known today as the initial
philosopher to characterise war as a
positive occurrence, writing that "Every
beast is driven to pasture by blows."[80]

We must know that war is

common to all and strife is
justice, and that all things
come into being through strife
necessarily.[81]

War is the father of all and

king of all; and some he shows
as gods, others as men, some
he makes slaves, others free.[82]
 Gods and men honor those
who are slain in battle.[83][f]

The people must fight for its

law as for its walls.[84]

Harmony E…

Kitharode by The bow's

the Berlin name is life,
Painter. though its
 work is
death.

In a metaphor and one of the earliest

uses of a force in the history of
philosophy, Heraclitus compares the
union of opposites to a strung bow or
lyre held in shape by an equilibrium of the
string tension:[85]

There is a harmony in the

bending back (παλίντροπος
palintropos) as in the case of
the bow and the lyre.

He claims this shows something true yet

invisible about reality; "a hidden harmony
is better than an apparent one."[86] He
also noted "the bow's name is life, though
its work is death,"[87] a play on both bow
and life being the same word as written –
biós; further evidence of a continuous,
written work.

On the unity of opposites, Burnet says:

The "strife of opposites" is

really an "attunement"
(armonia). From this it follows
that wisdom is not a
knowledge of many things, but
the perception of the
underlying unity of the warring
 opposites. That this really was
the fundamental thought of
Herakleitos is stated by Philo.
He says: "For that which is
made up of both the opposites
is one; and, when the one is
divided, the opposites are
disclosed. Is not this just what
the Greeks say their great and
much belauded Herakleitos put
in the forefront of his
philosophy as summing it all
up, and boasted of as a new
discovery?"[88]

The One and the Many E…

On Heraclitus' teachings of the one and
many, Burnet writes:

The truth Herakleitos

proclaimed was that the world
is at once one and many, and
that it is just the "opposite
tension" of the opposites that
constitutes the unity of the
One. It is the same conclusion
as that of Pythagoras, though
it is put in another way.[89]

Burnet also writes about Plato's

understanding of Heraclitus:
According to Plato, then,
Herakleitos taught that reality
was at once many and one.
This was not meant as a logical
principle. The identity which
Herakleitos explains as
consisting in difference is just
that of the primary substance
in all its manifestations. This
identity had been realised
already by the Milesians, but
they had found a difficulty in
the difference. Anaximander
had treated the strife of
opposites as an "injustice," and
 what Herakleitos set himself to
show was that, on the contrary,
it was the highest justice (fr.
62).[89]

Hodos ano kato, "the way up and the

way down" …

Heraclitus also said "The way up and the

way down is one and the same."[90]
Similarly he said "In writing, the course
taken, straight and crooked, is one and
the same."[91] This can be interpreted in
various ways.

Monism E…
One interpretation is that it shows his
monism, though perhaps a dialectical
one. Heraclitus does believe all is one.
The full quote is "Listening not to me but
to the Logos it is wise to agree that all
things are one."[64]

The one is made up of all

things, and all things issue
from the one.[92]

Hesiod is most men's teacher.

Men think he knew very many
things, a man who did not
know day or night! They are
one.[93]
 Concerning a circle the
beginning and end are
common.[94]

Cycle E…

Heraclitus depicted in 1655.

Another is it illustrates the cyclical nature
of reality and transformation, a
replacement of one element by another,
"turnings of fire".[95] This might be
another "hidden harmony" and is more
consistent with pluralism, not monism.[5]

The death of fire is the birth of

air, and the death of air is the
birth of water.[96]

For it is death to souls to

become water, and death to
water to become earth. But
water comes from earth; and
from water, soul.[97]
 Cold things become warm, and
what is warm cools; what is
wet dries, and the parched is
moistened.[98]

And it is the same thing in us

that is quick and dead, awake
and asleep, young and old; the
former are shifted and become
the latter, and the latter in turn
are shifted and become the
former.[99]

Relativism E…
This has also been interpreted to
advocate relativism.[100][73]

Good and ill are one.[101]

Asses prefer straw to gold.[102]

The sea is the purest and

impurest water. Fish can drink
it and it is good for them, to me
it is undrinkable and
destructive.[103]

Panta rhei – impermanence …

Heraclitus recognized the fundamental
changing of objects with the flow of time
(i.e., impermanence) and the
philosophical issue of becoming.

He is credited with the phrase panta rhei

(πάντα ῥεῖ), meaning "everything
flows."[104] This famous aphorism used
to characterize Heraclitus' thought
comes from Simplicius,[105] a
neoplatonist, and from Plato's
Cratylus.[106] The word rhei (as in
rheology) is the Greek word for "to
stream", and is etymologically related to
Rhea according to Plato's Cratylus.[107][g]
Compare with the Latin adages Omnia
mutantur and Tempora mutantur (8 AD)
and the Buddhist and Hindu concepts of
anicca.

On Heraclitus' teachings on Flux, Burnet

writes:

Fire burns continuously and

without interruption. It is
always consuming fuel and
always liberating smoke.
Everything is either mounting
upwards to serve as fuel, or
sinking down wards after
having nourished the flame. It
follows that the whole of
reality is like an ever-flowing
stream, and that nothing is
ever at rest for a moment. The
substance of the things we see
is in constant change. Even as
we look at them, some of the
stuff of which they are
composed has already passed
into something else, while fresh
stuff has come into them from
another source. This is usually
summed up, appropriately
enough, in the phrase "All
things are flowing" (panta rei),
though this does not seem to be
a quotation from Herakleitos.
Plato, however, expresses the
idea quite clearly. "Nothing
ever is, everything is
becoming"; "All things are in
motion like streams"; "All
things are passing, and nothing
abides"; "Herakleitos says
somewhere that all things pass
and naught abides; and,
comparing things to the
current of a river, he says you
cannot step twice into the same
stream" (cf. fr. 41). these are
the terms in which he describes
the system.[108]
The River …

No man ever steps in the same river twice.

His philosophy has been summed up

with another famous adage, "No man
ever steps in the same river twice."[109] It
can be contrasted with Parmenides's
statement that "whatever is, is, and what
is not cannot be." Heraclitus uses the
river image more than once:
 Ever-newer waters flow on
those who step into the same
rivers.[110]

We both step and do not step in

the same rivers. We are and
are not.[111]

The idea is referenced twice in Plato's

Cratylus.[106] Instead of "flow" Plato uses
chōrei, "to change place" (χῶρος;
chōros).

All entities move and nothing

remains still
 Everything changes and
nothing remains still ... and ...
you cannot step twice into the
same stream[h]

Simplicius references it thus:

...the natural philosophers who

follow Heraclitus, keeping in
view the perpetual flux of
generation and the fact that all
corporeal things are coming to
be and departing and never
really are (as Timaeus said too)
claim that all things are always
 in flux and that you could not
step twice in the same
river.[113]

According to Aristotle, Cratylus went a

step beyond his master's doctrine and
proclaimed that one cannot step into the
same river once. Compare the Japanese
tale Hōjōki, (1200 AD) which contains the
same image of the changing river.

However, the German classicist and

philosopher Karl-Martin Dietz interprets
this fragment as an indication by
Heraclitus, for the world as a steady
constant: "You will not find anything, in
which the river remains constant. [...]
Just the fact, that there is a particular
river bed, that there is a source and an
estuary etc. is something, that stays
identical. And this is [...] the concept of a
river".[114]

Heraclitus does seem to say change is

what unites things, as with his unity of
opposites, or the quote "Even the kykeon
falls apart if it is not stirred."[115] and
"Changing it rests."[116]

The Sun …
The Sun is new every day.

Flux is also expressed by the fact that,

rather than thinking the same Sun will
rise tomorrow as rose today, Heraclitus
said the Sun is new every day.[117]

God and the Soul …

By "God" Heraclitus does not mean a

single God as primum movens of all
things, God as Creator, for the universe is
eternal, "it always was and will be;" but
the divine as opposed to human; the
immortal as opposed to the mortal, the
cyclical as opposed to the transient. It is
arguably more accurate to speak of "the
Divine" and not of "God".

God …

Heraclitus distinguishes between human

laws and divine law (τοῦ θείου toū theiou
lit. '"of God"').[118] He said both God and
fire are "want and surfeit".[119] In addition
to seeing fire as the most fundamental
substance, he presents fire as the divine
cosmos. Fire is both a substance and a
motivator of change, it is active in
altering other things. Heraclitus
describes it as "the judging and
convicting of all things."[120] Judgment
here is literally "to separate" (κρίνειν
krinein).
In antiquity this was interpreted to mean
that eventually all things will be
consumed by fire, a doctrine called
ecpyrosis. Hippolytus, from whom we get
the quotation, sees it as a reference to
divine judgment and Hell. However, he
removes the human sense of justice
from his concept of God: "To God all
things are fair and good and just, but
people hold some things wrong and
some right."[121]

Mysticism E…

God's custom has wisdom but human

custom does not.[122] Wisdom is "to
know the thought by which all things are
steered through all things",[123] which
must not imply that people are or can be
wise. Only Zeus is wise.[124] To some
degree then Heraclitus seems to be in
the mystic's position of urging people to
follow God's plan without much of an
idea what that may be. In fact there is a
note of despair: "The fairest universe
(κάλλιστος κόσμος kállistos kósmos) is
but a heap of rubbish (σάρμα sárma lit.
'"sweepings"') piled up (κεχυμένον
kechuménon, i.e. "poured out") at random
(εἰκῇ eikê "aimlessly")."[125] Bertrand
Russell presents Heraclitus as a mystic
in his Mysticism and Logic.[126]

Aion esti pais, Eternity is a child E…

Heraclitus, by Rubens

There is the frivolity of a child in both

man and God. "Eternity is a child moving
counters in a game; the kingly power is a
child's."[127][53] Nietzsche explains this
enigmatic quote as "And as the child and
the artist plays, so too plays the ever
living fire, it builds up and tears down, in
innocence – such is the game eternity
plays with itself." This quote may also be
why there is the story of Heraclitus giving
up his kingship to his brother.

Heraclitus also stated "human opinions

are children's toys."[128] However, "Man is
called a baby by God, even as a child [is
called a baby] by a man."[129] Heraclitus
also states "We should not act and speak
like 'children of our parents", interpreted
by Marcus Aurelius to mean not simply
accept what others believe.[130]
Fragment from the Derveni Papyrus

The Soul …

He regarded the soul as being a mixture

of fire and water, with fire being the noble
part of the soul, and water the ignoble
part. A soul should therefore aim toward
becoming more full of fire and less full of
water: a "dry" soul was best.[131]
According to Heraclitus, worldly
pleasures (drinking most apparently[132])
made the soul "moist", and he considered
mastering one's worldly desires to be a
noble pursuit which purified the soul's
fire.[133] The soul also has a self-
increasing Logos.[134] He believed we
breathe in the logos, as Anaximenes
would say of air and the soul.[62] He also
stated "It is hard to fight with one's
heart's desire. Whatever it wishes to get,
it purchases at the cost of soul."[135]

Ethos anthropoi daimon, "Man's

character is [his] fate"
…

This influential quote by Heraclitus

"Ethos anthropoi daimon"[136] has led to
numerous interpretations. It seems to
state one's luck is related to one's
character.[5] Whether in this context
"daimon" can indeed be translated to
mean "fate" is disputed; however, it lends
much sense to Heraclitus' observations
and conclusions about human nature in
general. While the translation with "fate"
is generally accepted as in Kahn's "a
man's character is his divinity", in some
cases, it may also stand for the soul of
the departed.[137]

The senses …

Some have interpreted and some

fragments support Heraclitus as a kind
of proto-empiricist,[126] such as "the
things that can be seen, heard and
learned are what I prize the most,"[138] or
"The sun is the size that it appears," "the
width of a human foot.[139][140][141] but W.
K. C. Guthrie disputes this interpretation,
citing for "Eyes and ears are bad
witnesses to men who have barbarian
souls."[78][142] He also said "sight tells
falsehoods"[143] and that "nature loves to
hide".[144] He also warned against
hearsay, "Eyes are better witnesses than
the ears."

The sense of smell also seemed to play a

role in his philosophy. "If all things were
turned to smoke, the nostrils would
distinguish them."[145] and "Souls smell in
Hades."[146]

Influence

Ancient …

Cratylus …

Heraclitus's most famous follower was

Cratylus, who was presented by Plato as
a linguistic naturalist, one who believes
names must apply naturally to their
objects. According to Aristotle, he took
the view that nothing can be said about
the ever-changing world, and "ended by
thinking that one need not say anything,
and only moved his finger."[147] He
seemed to hold the view that continuous
change warrants skepticism, as,
according to him, one cannot define a
thing that does not have a permanent
nature.[148] 20th century linguistic
philosophy saw a rise in considerations
brought up by Cratylus in Plato's
dialogue, and thus offered the doctrine
called Cratylism.

Parmenides …

Parmenides may have been responding to

Parmenides may have been responding to
Heraclitus.

Parmenides's poem argues that change

is impossible, and may very well have
been referring to Heraclitus with such
passages as "Undiscerning crowds, who
hold that it is and is not the same, and all
things travel in opposite directions!".

Pluralists …

The pluralists were the first to try and

reconcile Heraclitus and Parmenides.
Anaxagoras may have been influenced by
Heraclitus in his refusal to separate the
opposites. Empedocles forces of Love
and Hate were probably influenced by
Heraclitus' Harmony and Strife.
Empedocles is also credited with
introducing the concept of the four
classical elements.

Plato …

Plato is the most famous to try and

reconcile Heraclitus and Parmenides,
and through him both influence virtually
all subsequent Western philosophy. Plato
knew of Heraclitus through Cratylus, and
thus wrote his dialogue of the same
name.[149] Plato thought the views of
Heraclitus entailed that no entity may
ever occupy a single state at a single
time, and argued against him as
follows:[150]
 How can that be a real thing
which is never in the same
state? ... for at the moment that
the observer approaches, then
they become other ... so that
you cannot get any further in
knowing their nature or state
.... but if that which knows and
that which is known exist ever
... then I do not think they can
resemble a process or flux ....

However, Plato does seem influenced by

Heraclitus in his concept of the world as
always changing, and thus our inability to
have knowledge of particulars, and by
Parmenides in needing another world,
the Platonic realm, where things remain
unchanging and universals exist as the
objects of knowledge, the Forms. He
gives this in the Symposium, sounding
very much like Heraclitus:[148][151]

Even during the period for

which any living being is said
to live and retain his identity –
as a man, for example, is called
the same man from boyhood to
old age – he does not in fact
retain the same attributes,
although he is called the same
 person: he is always becoming
a new being and undergoing a
process of loss and reparation,
which affects his hair, his flesh,
his bones, his blood and his
whole body. And not only his
body, but his soul as well. No
man's character, habits,
opinions desires pleasures
pains and fears remain always
the same: new ones come into
existence and old ones
disappear.

Pyrrhonists …
Pyrrhonism is a school of philosophical
skepticism which flourished between the
3rd century BCE and about the 3rd
century CE. One major figure in the
school, Aenesidemus, claimed in a now-
lost work that Pyrrhonism was a way to
Heraclitean philosophy, since opposites
appearing to be the case about the same
thing leads into opposites being the case
about the same thing, and the
Pyrrhonists say that opposites appear to
be the case about the same thing, while
the Heracliteans move from this to their
being the case. A later Pyrrhonist
philosopher, Sextus Empiricus, disagreed,
arguing that opposites' appearing to be
the case about the same thing is not a
dogma of the Pyrrhonists but a matter
occurring not only to the Pyrrhonists but
also to the other philosophers, and,
indeed, to all mankind.[152]

Stoics …

Coin from c. 230 AD depicting Heraclitus, with club

and raised hand.

Stoicism was a philosophical school

which flourished between the 3rd century
BC and about the 3rd century AD. It
began among the Greeks and became a
major philosophy of the Roman Empire
before declining with the rise of
Christianity in the 3rd century.

While most scholars believe Heraclitus

had little effect on the Stoics, scholar A.
A. Long argues otherwise. According to
him, throughout their long tenure the
Stoics believed that the major tenets of
their philosophy derived from the thought
of Heraclitus,[153] "the importance of
Heraclitus to later Stoics is evident most
plainly in Marcus Aurelius."[154][i] Explicit
connections of the earliest Stoics to
Heraclitus showing how they arrived at
their interpretation are missing but they
can be inferred from the Stoic fragments,
which Long concludes are "modifications
of Heraclitus."[155]

The Stoic modification of Heraclitus' idea

of the Logos was also influential on
Jewish philosophers such as Philo of
Alexandria, who connected it to "Wisdom
personified" as God's creative principle.
Philo uses the term Logos throughout his
treatises on Hebrew Scripture in a
manner clearly influenced by the Stoics.

With regard to Stoic modification of

Heraclitus, Burnet writes:

Another difficulty we have to

face is that most of the
commentators on Herakleitos
mentioned in Diogenes were
Stoics. Now, the Stoics held the
Ephesian in peculiar
veneration, and sought to
interpret him as far as possible
in accordance with their own
system. Further, they were
fond of "accommodating" the
views of earlier thinkers to
their own, and this has had
serious consequences. In
particular, the Stoic theories of
the logos and the ekpyrosis are
constantly ascribed to
 Herakleitos, and the very
fragments are adulterated with
scraps of Stoic terminology.[88]

Hymn to Zeus E…

The Stoics were interested in Heraclitus'

treatment of fire. The earliest surviving
Stoic work, the Hymn to Zeus of
Cleanthes, a work transitional from
pagan polytheism to the modern
religions and philosophies, though not
explicitly referencing Heraclitus, adopts
what appears to be the Heraclitean logos
modified.[j] Zeus rules the universe with
law (nomos) wielding on its behalf the
"forked servant", the "fire" of the "ever-
living lightning." So far nothing has been
said that differs from the Zeus of Homer.
But then, says Cleanthes, Zeus uses the
fire to "straighten out the common logos"
that travels about (phoitan, "to frequent")
mixing with the greater and lesser lights
(heavenly bodies). This is Heraclitus'
logos, but now it is confused with the
"common nomos", which Zeus uses to
"make the wrong (perissa, left or odd)
right (artia, right or even)" and "order
(kosmein) the disordered (akosma)."[156]
Possible statue of Hippolytus

Church Fathers …

The Church Fathers were the leaders of

the early Christian Church during its first
five centuries of existence, roughly
contemporaneous to Stoicism under the
Roman Empire. The works of dozens of
writers in hundreds of pages have
survived. All of them had something to
say about the Christian form of the
Logos.[157] The Catholic Church found it
necessary to distinguish between the
Christian logos and that of Heraclitus, in
order to distance itself from pagans and
convert them to Christianity. Church use
of the methods and conclusions of
ancient philosophy as such was as yet
far in the future, even though many were
converted philosophers.

Refutation of All Heresies E…

Hippolytus of Rome therefore identifies

Heraclitus along with the other Pre-
Socratics (and Academics) as sources of
heresy. In Refutation of All Heresies, one
of the best sources on quotes from
Heraclitus, Hippolytus says: "What the
blasphemous folly is of Noetus, and that
he devoted himself to the tenets of
Heraclitus the Obscure, not to those of
Christ."[158] Hippolytus then goes on to
present an inscrutable quote: "God
(theos) is day and night, winter and
summer, ... but he takes various shapes,
just as fire, when it is mingled with
spices, is named according to the savor
of each."[159] The fragment seems to
support pantheism if taken literally.
German physicist and philosopher Max
Bernard Weinstein classed his view as a
predecessor of pandeism.[65]
Hippolytus condemns the obscurity of it.
He cannot accuse Heraclitus of being a
heretic so he says instead: "Did not
(Heraclitus) the Obscure anticipate
Noetus in framing a system ...?" The
apparent pantheist deity of Heraclitus (if
that is what the fragment means) must
be equal to the union of opposites and
therefore must be corporeal and
incorporeal, divine and not-divine, dead
and alive, etc., and the Trinity can only be
reached by some sort of illusory shape-
shifting.[160]

First Apology E…

The Christian apologist Justin Martyr,

however, took a much more positive view
of him. In his First Apology, he said both
Socrates and Heraclitus were Christians
before Christ: "those who lived
reasonably are Christians, even though
they have been thought atheists; as,
among the Greeks, Socrates and
Heraclitus, and men like them." [161]

Modern …

Heraclitus from the Nuremberg Chronicle

The weeping philosopher was still
considered an indispensable motif for
philosophy through the modern period.

French philosophy …

Michel de Montaigne proposed two

archetypical views of human affairs
based on them, selecting Democritus' for
himself.[162]

German philosophy …

G. W. F. Hegel gave Heraclitus high

praise. According to him, "the origin of
philosophy is to be dated from
Heraclitus." He attributes dialectics to
Heraclitus rather than, as Aristotle did, to
Zeno of Elea. "There is no proposition of
Heraclitus which I have not adopted in
my Logic."[163]

Friedrich Engels who associated with the

Young Hegelians also gave Heraclitus
the credit for inventing dialectics,
relevant to his own dialectical
materialism. Ferdinand Lasalle was
another socialist also influenced by
Heraclitus.

Heraclitus plaque on Path of Visionaries in Berlin

Friedrich Nietzsche was profoundly
influenced by Heraclitus, as can be seen
in his Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the
Greeks. Nietzsche sees him as a
confident opposition to Anaximander's
pessimism. Oswald Spengler was
influenced by Nietzsche and also wrote
his dissertation on Heraclitus.

Martin Heidegger is also influenced by

Heraclitus, as seen in his Introduction to
Metaphysics, and takes a very different
interpretation than Nietzsche and several
others. According to Heidegger, "In
Heraclitus, to whom is ascribed the
doctrine of becoming as diametrically
opposed to Parmenides' doctrine of
being, says the same as Parmenides."[164]

Karl Popper wrote much on Heraclitus,

and both Popper and Heraclitus believe
in invisible processes at work.[165]

British philosophy …

The weeping philosopher may have also

been mentioned in William Shakespeare's
The Merchant of Venice.[166] J. M. E.
McTaggart's illustration of the A-series
and B-series of time has been seen as an
analogous application to time of
Heraclitus and Parmenides views of all of
reality, respectively. A. N. Whitehead's
process philosophy bears a resemblance
to Heraclitus.[167]

Jungian psychology …

Carl Jung wrote that Heraclitus

"discovered the most marvellous of all
psychological laws: the regulative
function of opposites ...by which he
meant that sooner or later everything
runs into its opposite."[168] Jung adopted
this law, enantiodromia, into his
analytical psychology. He related it with
Chinese classics, stating: "If the Western
world had followed his lead, we would all
be Chinese in our viewpoint instead of
Christian. We can think of Heraclitus as
making the switch between the East and
the West."[169] Furthermore, Jung
suggested that Heraclitus was named
"the dark" not because his style was too
difficult, but precisely "because he spoke
too plainly" about the paradoxical nature
of existence "and called life itself an
"ever-living fire.""[170]

Depictions in art

Crying Heraclitus Democriet

and laughing (laughing) &
Democritus by Herakliet (crying)
 Donato by Cornelis van
Bramante Haarlem

Democritus by Heraclitus by
Johannes Johannes
Moreelse Moreelse

Heraclitus has been portrayed several

times in western art, especially as part of
the weeping and laughing philosopher
motif, and with globes.

Italian …
Donato Bramante painted a fresco,
"Democritus and Heraclitus," in Casa
Panigarola in Milan in 1477.[171]
Heraclitus's most famous depiction in art
is in Raphael's School of Athens, painted
around 1510. Raphael chose to depict
Michelangelo as Heraclitus. He and
Diogenes of Sinope are the only ones to
sit alone in the painting.

The laughing philosopher and the weeping

philosopher by Johann Christoph Ludwig Lücke
Salvator Rosa also painted Democritus
and Heraclitus, as did Luca Giordano,
together and separately in the 1650s or
so. Giuseppe Torretti sculpted busts of
the same in 1705. Giuseppe Antonio
Petrini painted Weeping Heraclitus circa
1750.

German …

Franz Tymmermann in 1538 painted a

weeping Heraclitus. Johann Christoph
Ludwig Lücke sculpted busts of the
same in the 1750s. Franz Xaver
Messerschmidt also sculpted them.

Dutch …
In 1619, the Dutch Cornelis van Haarlem
also painted a laughing Democritus and
weeping Heraclitus. Hendrick ter
Brugghen's paintings of Heraclitus and
Democritus separately in 1628 hang in
the Rijksmuseum, and he also painted
them together.

Around 1630, Dutch painter Johannes

Moreelse painted Heraclitus ringing his
hands over a globe, sad at the state of
the world, and another with Democritus
laughing at one. Dirck van Baburen also
painted the pair. Egbert van Heemskerck
did as well.

Flemish …
Peter Paul Rubens painted the pair twice
in 1603. Nicolaes Pickenoy also painted
the pair.

French …

Etienne Parrocel painted him, as did

Charles-Antoine Coypel.

Spanish …

Jusepe de Ribera painted the pair in

1630.

See also
 (in Greek) Quotes of Heraclitus
(Apospásmata)

Notes
a. Such calculations are common for
those of this early period of Greek
philosophy. For example, Thales
usual birth of 625 BC is figured by
taking the date he predicted an
eclipse, May 28, 585 BC, and
assuming he was 40 years old at the
time.
b. Ancient temples were regularly used
for storing treasures, and were open
to private individuals under
exceptional circumstances.
c. thaumasios, which, as Socrates
explains in Plato's Theaetetus and
Gorgias, is the beginning of
philosophy
d. Heraclitus typically uses the ordinary
word "to become" (gignesthai or
ginesthai, present tense or aorist
tense of the verb, with the root sense
of "being born").
e. The initial part of DK B2, often
omitted because broken by a note
explaining that ξυνός ksunos (Ionic)
is κοινός koinos (Attic).
f. Literally, slain by Ares
g. In pronunciation the -ei- is a
diphthong sounding like the -ei- in
 reindeer. The initial r is aspirated or
made breathy, which indicates the
dropping of the s in *sreu-.
h. This sentence has been translated
by Seneca.[112]
i. Aurelius quotes Heraclitus in
Meditations iv. 46
j. Different translations of this can be
found at Rolleston, T. W. "Stoic
Philosophers: Cleanthes' Hymn to
Zeus" . www.numinism.net. Archived
from the original on 2009-08-05.
Retrieved 2007-11-28. Ellery, M. A. C.
(1976). "Cleanthes' Hymn to Zeus" .
Tom Sienkewicz. Archived from the
original on 2007-12-24. Retrieved
 2007-11-28. "Hymn to Zeus" .
Translated by not stated. Holy, Holy,
Holy at thriceholy.net: Hypatia's
Bookshelf.

References
1. Hanks, Patrick; Urdang, Laurence,
eds. (1979). Collins English
Dictionary . London, Glasgow:
Collins. ISBN 978-0-00-433078-5.
2. Winters, Andrew M. (2017). Natural
Processes: Understanding
Metaphysics Without Substance.
Springer. p. 10. ISBN 978-3-319-
67570-1.
3. Graham, Daniel W. (2019),
"Heraclitus" , The Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
4. Graham, Daniel W. "Heraclitus" .
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
5. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/he
raclitus/
6. Kahn, Charles (1979). The Art and
Thought of Heraclitus: Fragments
with Translation and Commentary .
London: Cambridge University Press.
pp. 1 –23. ISBN 978-0-521-28645-9.
7. Burnet, John (1930). Early Greek
Philosophy. 4, 5 & 6 Soho Square,
London, W.1: A. & C. Black, Ltd.
p. 130.
 8. Diogenes Laërtius, ix. 1
9. The Encyclopædia Britannica
Eleventh Edition Parmenides of Elea
10. John Palmer (2016). Parmenides .
Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. Metaphysics Research
Lab, Stanford University.
11. DK B40, from Laertius, Lives 9.1
12. DK B129
13. Ríos Pedraza, Francisco; Haya
Segovia, Fernando (2009). Historia
de la Filosofía . Oxford University
Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-84-673-5147-
7.
14. Naddaf 2005, p. 126.
15. Wiesehöfer 2003, pp. 201–202.
16. Diogenes Laërtius, ix. 3
17. Diogenes Laërtius, ix. 6
18. Strabo, Chapter 1, section 3.
19. Diogenes Laërtius, ix. 2
20. G. S. Kirk (2010), Heraclitus: The
Cosmic Fragments, Cambridge
University Press, p. 1.
ISBN 0521136679
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22. Diogenes Laërtius, ix. 5
23. DK B101, from Plutarch Against
Colotes 1118C
24. DK B14, from Clement Protrepic 22
25. DK B96, from Plutarch Table Talk
669A
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Letters 1
27. DK B116, from Stobaeus Selections
3.5.6
28. DK B113, from Stobaeus Selections
3.1.179
29. DK B89, from Pseudo-Plutarch, On
Superstition 166c
30. DK B34, from Clement, Miscellanies
5.115.3
31. DK B97, from Plutarch On Listening
to Lectures 40f-41a
32. DK B47, from Laertius, Lives, 9.73
33. B87, from Plutarch On Listening to
Lectures 40f-41a
34. DK B35, from Clement Miscellanies
5.140.5
35. DK B28, from Clement Miscellanies
5.9.3
36. DK B42, from Laertius, Lives, 9.1
37. DK B39, Laertius, Lives, 1.88
38. DK B104, from Proclus Commentary
of Plato's Alcibiades I 117
39. DK B125a, from John Tzetzes,
Scholium on Aristophanes Wealth 88
40. DK B121, from Strabo, Geography
14.25
41. Diogenes Laërtius, ix. 4
42. Fairweather, Janet (1973). "Death of
Heraclitus" . p. 2.
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Philosophy. 4, 5 & 6 Soho Square,
London, W.1: A. & C. Black, Ltd.
p. 131.
44. Rhetoric 3.1407b11
45. DK B1, from Sextus Empiricus,
Against the Mathematicians 7.132
46. Metaphysics Book 4, section 1005b
47. DK B93, from Plutarch On the
Pythian Oracle 404D
48. De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum,
Chapter 2, Section 15.
49. Seneca, Lucius Annaeus (1995).
Moral and Political Essays.
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521-34818-8.
50. https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/coll
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52. Satire X. Translation from Juvenal
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53. Lucian, Sale of Creeds
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55. For the etymology see Watkins,
Calvert (2000). "Appendix I: Indo-
European Roots: leg-" . The
American Heritage Dictionary of the
English Language: Fourth Edition.
Archived from the original on 2007-
12-15. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
56. K. F. Johansen, "Logos" in Donald
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61. Burnet, John (1930). Early Greek
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p. 133.
62. Guthrie, The Greek Philosophers, p.
46
63. DK B2, from Sextus Empiricus,
Against the Mathematicians 7.133
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of All Heresies 9.9.1
65. Max Bernhard Weinsten, Welt- und
Lebensanschauungen,
Hervorgegangen aus Religion,
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Nature") (1910), p. 233
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530682-8.
67. https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/n
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72. Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the
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"Heraclitus"  . Encyclopædia
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76. DK B26, from Clement Miscellanies
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77. DK B21, from Clement Miscellanies
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sv bios
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Philosophy. 4, 5 & 6 Soho Square,
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93. DK B57, from Hippolytus, Refutation
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94. DK B103, from Porphyry, Notes on
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95. DK B31, from Clement Miscellanies
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97. DK B36, from Clement Miscellanies
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98. DK B126, from John Tzetzes Notes
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1992). "A Comparative History of
Ideas" . Motilal Banarsidass Publ. –
via Google Books.
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of All Heresies 9.10.6
102. DK B9, from Aristotle Nicomachean
Ethics 10.5 1176a7
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104. Beris, A. N. and A. J. Giacomin,
"πάντα ῥεῖ: Everything Flows", Cover
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also Cratylus 439d.3 .
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Calvert (2000). "Appendix I: Indo-
European Roots: sreu" . The
American Heritage Dictionary of the
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01-24. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
108. Burnet, John (1930). Early Greek
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109. DK B91, from Plutarch On the E at
Delphi 392b
110. DK B12, from Arius Didymus, fr. 39.2,
apud Eusebius, Praeparatio
Evangelica, 15.20.2
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Homericus, Homeric Questions 24
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Philosophical Terms: A Historical
Lexicon . NYU Press. p. 178 .
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von Ephesus und die Entwicklung
der Individualität. Stuttgart: Verlag
Freies Geistesleben. p. 60. ISBN 978-
3772512735.
115. B125, from Theophrastus On Vertigo
9
116. Plotnius, Enneads 4.8.1
117. DK B6, from Aristotle Meteorology
2.2 355a13
118. DK B114, from Stobaeus Selections
3.1.179
119. DK B65, from Hippolytus Refutation
of All Heresies 9.10.7
120. DK B66, from Hippolytus, Refutation
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121. DK B102, from Porphyry, Notes on
Homer, on Iliad 4.4
122. DK B78, from Origen, Against Celsus
6.12
123. DK B41, from Laertius, Lives, 9.1
124. DK B32, from Clement, Miscellanies
5.115.1
125. DK B124, from Theophrastrus,
Metaphysics 15
126. Mysticism and Logic p. 2
127. DK B52, from Hippolytus, Refutation
of All Heresies 9.94
128. DK B70, from Stobaeus, Selections
2.1.16
129. DK B79
130. DK B74, from Marcus Aurelius,
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3.5.8
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and Their Objects 5 443a23
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in the Moon 943E
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149. Metaphysics, 987a32
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Further reading

Editions and translations …

Botten, Mick. (2012). Herakleitos –

Logos Made Manifest, Upfront
Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78035-064-6
All fragments, in Greek and English,
with commentary and appendices
Davenport, Guy (translator) (1979).
Herakleitos and Diogenes . Bolinas:
Grey Fox Press. ISBN 978-0-912516-
36-3. Complete fragments of
Heraclitus in English
Heraclitus; Haxton (translator), Brooks;
Hillman (Forward), James (2001).
Fragments: The Collected Wisdom of
Heraclitus . New York: Viking (The
Penguin Group, Penguin Putnam, Inc.).
ISBN 978-0-670-89195-5.. Parallel
Greek & English
Kahn, Charles H. (1979). The Art and
Thought of Heraclitus. An Edition of the
Fragments with Translation and
Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-
21883-2.
Kirk, G. S. (1954). Heraclitus, the
Cosmic Fragments. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Marcovich, Miroslav (2001). Heraclitus.
Greek Text with a Short Commentary.
Sankt Augustin: Academia Verlag.
ISBN 978-3-89665-171-6. First edition:
Heraclitus, editio maior. Mérida,
Venezuela, 1967
Patrick, G. T. W. (1889). Heraclitus of
Ephesus: The Fragments .
Robinson, T. M. (1987). Heraclitus:
Fragments: A Text and Translation with
a Commentary. Toronto: University of
Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-6913-
9.
 Sallis, John; Maly, Kenneth, eds.
(1980). Heraclitean fragments.
University: University of Alabama
Press. ISBN 978-0-8173-0027-2.
Wheelwright, Philip (1959). Heraclitus .
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press.
Wright, M. R. (1985). The Presocratics:
The main Fragments in Greek with
Introduction, Commentary and
Appendix Containing Text and
Translation of Aristotle on the
Presocratics. Bristol: Bristol Classical
Press. ISBN 978-0-86292-079-1.

Selected bibliography …
Bakalis, Nikolaos (2005). Handbook of
Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the
Stoics: Analysis and Fragments.
Trafford Publishing. pp. 26–45 under
Heraclitus. ISBN 978-1-4120-4843-9.
Barnes, Jonathan (1982). The
Presocratic Philosophers [Revised
Edition]. London & New York:
Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
ISBN 978-0-415-05079-1.
Bollack, Jean; Wismann, Heinz (1972).
Héraclite ou la séparation (in French).
Paris: Minuit. ISBN 9782707303851.
Burnet, John (1892). Early Greek
Philosophy . Kessinger Publishing.
ISBN 978-0-7661-2826-2. "Early Greek
philosophy." First published in 1892,
this book has had dozens of editions
and has been used as a textbook for
decades. The first edition is
downloadable from Google Books
Dietz, Karl-Martin (2004):
Metamorphosen des Geistes. Freies
Geistesleben, Stuttgart 2004, Band 1:
Prometheus der Vordenker: Vom
göttlichen zum menschlichen Wissen.
Band 2: Platon und Aristoteles. Das
Erwachen des europäischen Denkens.
Band 3: Heraklit von Ephesus und die
Entwicklung der Individualität. Freies
Geistesleben, Stuttgart, 2004, ISBN 3-
7725-1300-X
Dilcher, Roman (1995). Studies in
Heraclitus. Hildesheim: Olms.
ISBN 978-3-487-09986-6.
Fairbanks, Arthur (1898). The First
Philosophers of Greece . New York:
Scribner.
Graham, D. W. (2002). "Heraclitus and
Parmenides". In Caston, V.; Graham, D.
W. (eds.). Presocratic Philosophy:
Essays in Honour of Alexander
Mourelatos. Aldershot: Ashgate.
pp. 27–44. ISBN 978-0-7546-0502-7.
Graham, D. W. (2008). "Heraclitus: Flux,
Order, and Knowledge". In Curd, P.;
Graham, D. W. (eds.). The Oxford
Handbook of Presocratic Philosophy.
New York: Oxford University Press.
pp. 169–188. ISBN 978-0-19-514687-5.
Guthrie, W. K. C. (1962). A History of
Greek Philosophy: The Earlier
Presocratics and the Pythagoreans. 1.
Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Heidegger, Martin; Fink, Eugen; Seibert
(translator), Charles H. (1993).
Heraclitus Seminar. Evanston:
Northwestern University Press.
ISBN 978-0-8101-1067-0.. Transcript of
seminar in which two German
philosophers analyze and discuss
Heraclitus' texts.
Hussey, Edward (1972). The
Presocratics . New York: Scribner.
ISBN 0684131188.
Kirk, G. S.; Raven, J. E. (1957). The Pre-
Socratic Philosophers: A Critical History
with a Selection of Texts (2nd ed.).
Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Lavine, T. Z. (1984). From Socrates to
Sartre: The Philosophic Quest. New
York: Bantam Doubleday Dell
Publishing Group, Inc. (Bantam Books).
Chapter 2: Shadow and Substance,
Section: Plato's Sources: The Pre–
SocraticPhilosophers: Heraclitus and
Parmenides. ISBN 978-0-553-25161-6.
 Laërtius, Diogenes (1925). "Others:
Heraclitus"  . Lives of the Eminent
Philosophers. 2:9. Translated by Hicks,
Robert Drew (Two volume ed.). Loeb
Classical Library.
Luchte, James (2011). Early Greek
Thought: Before the Dawn. London:
Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-
0567353313.
Magnus, Magus; Fuchs, Wolfgang
(introduction) (2010). Heraclitean
Pride. Towson: Furniture Press Books.
ISBN 978-0-9826299-2-5. Creative re-
creation of Heraclitus' lost book, from
the fragments
McKirahan, R. D. (2011). Philosophy
before Socrates, An Introduction With
Text and Commentary. Indianapolis:
Hackett. ISBN 978-1-60384-183-2.
Mourelatos, Alexander, ed. (1993). The
Pre-Socratics : a collection of critical
essays (Rev. ed.). Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-
0-691-02088-4.
Naddaf, Gerard (2005). The Greek
Concept of Nature. SUNY Press.
ISBN 978-0791463734.
Pyle, C. M. (1997). 'Democritus and
Heracleitus: An Excursus on the Cover
of this Book,' Milan and Lombardy in
the Renaissance. Essays in Cultural
History. Rome, La Fenice. (Istituto di
Filologia Moderna, Università di Parma:
Testi e Studi, Nuova Serie: Studi 1.)
(Fortuna of the Laughing and Weeping
Philosophers topos)
Rodziewicz, A. (2011). "Heraclitus
historicus politicus". Studia Antyczne I
Mediewistyczne. 44: 5–35. ISSN 0039-
3231 .
Schofield, Malcolm; Nussbaum,
Martha Craven, eds. (1982). Language
and logos : studies in ancient Greek
philosophy presented to G. E. L. Owen.
Cambridge: Cambridge U.P. ISBN 978-
0-521-23640-9.
Taylor, C. C. W. (ed.), Routledge History
of Philosophy: From the Beginning to
Plato, Vol. I, pp. 80–117. ISBN 0-203-
02721-3 Master e-book ISBN, ISBN 0-
203-05752-X (Adobe eReader Format)
and ISBN 0-415-06272-1 (Print
Edition).
Tarán, L. (1999). "337–378". Elenchos.
20: 9–52.
Vlastos, G. (1955). "On Heraclitus".
American Journal of Philology. 76 (4):
337–378. doi:10.2307/292270 .
JSTOR 292270 .
Wiesehöfer, Josef (2003). "Heracleitus
of Ephesus". HERACLEITUS OF
EPHESUS – Encyclopaedia Iranica .
 Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XII, Fasc. 2.
pp. 201–202.

External links
Quotations related to Heraclitus at
Wikiquote
Works related to Fragments of
Heraclitus at Wikisource
Media related to Heraclitus at
Wikimedia Commons
Elpenor. "Heraclitus: The Word is
Common" . The Greek Word: Three
Millennia of Greek Literature. Elpenor.
Retrieved 2007-10-10. Heraclitus
bilingual anthology from DK in Greek
and English, side by side, the
translations being provided by the
organization, Elpenor.
Graham, Daniel W. (2006).
"Heraclitus" . The Internet Encyclopedia
of Philosophy. The editors. Retrieved
2007-10-09.
Graham, Daniel W. (2011).
"Heraclitus" . Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. The editors. Retrieved
2013-08-25.
Harris, William, translator (1994).
"Heraclitus: The Complete Fragments:
Translation and Commentary and The
Greek Text" (PDF). Humanities and the
Liberal Arts: Greek Language and
Literature: Text and Commentary.
Middlebury College. Archived from the
original (PDF) on 2007-09-27.
Retrieved 2007-10-09. Greek and
English with DK numbers and
commentary.
"Heraclitus the Obscure: The Father of
the Doctrine of Flux and the Unity of
Opposites" . Archimedes' Laboratory.
Retrieved 2007-11-09. Text and
selected aphorisms in Greek, English,
Italian and French.
Hooker, Richard (1996). "Heraclitus" .
World Civilizations: An Internet
Classroom and Anthology: Greek
Philosophy. Washington State
University. Archived from the original
on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-10-11.
Selected fragments translated by
Hooker.
Hoyt, Randy (2002). "The Fragments of
Heraclitus" . Archived from the
original on 2014-01-02. Retrieved
2007-10-09. The fragments also cited
in DK in Greek (Unicode) with the
English translations of John Burnet
(see Bibliography).
June, Daniel (2012). "The Logos: a
Modern Adapted Translation of the
Complete Fragments of Heraclitus"
(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF)
on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
Knierim, Thomas (2007). "Heraclitus:
(Ephesus, around 500 BC)" .
thebigview.com. Archived from the
original on 2013-09-22. Retrieved
2004-10-18. Essay on the flux and fire
philosophy of Heraclitus.
Lancereau, M. Daniel; Béreau, M.
Samuel (2007). "Heraclitus" .
Philoctetes: ΦΙΛΟΚΤΗΤΗΣ. Archived
from the original on 2013-08-18.
Retrieved 2007-10-10. Site with links to
pdf's containing the fragments of DK in
Greek (Unicode) with the English
translations of John Burnet (see
Bibliography) and translations into
French, either in parallel columns or
interlinear, with links on the lexical
items to Perseus dictionaries.
Includes also Heraclitus article from
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh
Edition.
Stamatellos, Giannis. "Heraclitus of
Ephesus: Life and Work" . Retrieved
2007-10-12.
Trix. "Heraclitus' Epistemological
Views" . sym•pos•i•a: σuμποσια: the
online philosophy journal. Archived
from the original on 2007-09-29.
Retrieved 2007-10-10.
Osho. "Osho discourse on Heraclitus,
The Hidden Harmony" .
"Heraclitus Series" . Heraclitus'
fragments rendered into the language
 of deductive logic on Triple Canopy
(online magazine).

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title=Heraclitus&oldid=982938670"

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