Do you know that when you say: “Everything flows, everything changes, ” do you quote the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus? His name is known throughout the world, and such luminaries as Nietzsche, Kant, Schopenhauer, proudly called themselves the followers of the great philosopher.
Ancient Greece gave the world many worthy people. From antiquity, philosophy originates. One of the founders of this science was Heraclitus. You can learn briefly about the philosopher from our article, which will help not only significantly expand your horizons, but also tell you about the origin of many sciences and doctrines.
Who is Heraclitus? What is he known for
Ancient Greece, or, as it was poetically called in ancient centuries, Hellas, became the cradle of many sciences.
One of the most famous philosophers of antiquity was Heraclitus. Philosophy as a science owes to him the formation of many concepts and basic theses. For many centuries Heraclitus is considered the author of the catch phrase "everything flows, everything changes." The concepts of the ancient Greek sage are still the subject of study by many representatives of science.
Heraclitus was famous thanks to the introduction of the concept of "logos" into the system of philosophy and the development of the original dialectic. The dialectic of Heraclitus became the basis of the teachings of many philosophers after him, for example, Plato in his monumental work "The State" in one of the chapters conducts a conditional dialogue with Heraclitus.
One can agree or disagree with the sage's theses, but they do not leave indifferent both the people of science and the casual reader.
Briefly about the life of a philosopher
There are very few reliable reports on the life path of the philosopher. It is known that he lived in the city of Ephesus in 544-483 BC. He came from an ancient family. With aristocratic noble roots, Heraclitus, in adulthood, renounced all possible privileges and preferred society to life in the mountains.
The questions that he studied are ontology, ethics, and political science. Unlike many philosophers of his time, he did not adjoin any of the existing schools and trends. In his teaching was "on its own." The Miletian school, which the philosopher criticized, although it had no effect on his views, but left its imprint on the worldview. More about this in the following sections of the article. He did not have actual students, but the wisest thinkers from antiquity to the present day weave his theses and views into their ideas.
The heyday of Heraclitus came in the period of the 69th Olympiad. But his teaching was untimely and did not find a response. Perhaps that is why, according to some historians, Heraclitus leaves Ephesus in the mountains in order to develop his ideas and nascent ingenious innovative concepts alone with himself. The brief information about the sage that has survived to this day describes him as a closed man, with a sharp mind and critical attitude to everything he saw and heard. The statements of Heraclitus were like arrows that hit exactly on target. And the goal of his criticism could be both his fellow villagers and the local authorities and the people standing at its helm. The philosopher was not afraid of censure or punishment, he was direct, like a sword, and made no exceptions. Perhaps, already in adulthood, his consciousness reached a peak, and he could not afford to be in an environment that was completely far from his views and knowledge, and did not understand him. The philosopher was called “dark, ” and there are two versions of why. The first - the nickname arose from the fact that the thoughts of the sage were incomprehensible to his contemporaries, she called them confused and "dark", respectively. The second theory proceeds from the philosophical worldview and sentiment. Knowing that which was inaccessible to the understanding of others, Heraclitus was closed and was constantly in a melancholic or sarcastic mood.
There are many myths about the death of a sage, not one of them is either confirmed or refuted. According to one of the existing opinions, stray dogs tore the philosopher, according to other sources, the sage died of dropsy, according to the third - he came to the village, ordered himself to be dung with manure and died. He was too unusual for his time. Just as people did not understand him during their lifetime, he remained a secret to them after his mysterious death. Only after many centuries, the thoughts of Heraclitus found their admirers.
Proceedings of Heraclitus
It is believed that the great sage had many works, but only one could reach our days - the book "On Nature", consisting of parts "About God", "About Nature" and "About the State". The book was not preserved in its entirety, but in separate parts and passages; nevertheless, it was able to convey the teachings of Heraclitus.
Here he substantiates his concept of “logos”, which we will talk about below.
Due to the fragmentation of the book, many ideas and concepts have remained outside the scope of modern philosophy. However, those grains that we have the opportunity to study and realize, carry the great wisdom of the philosopher, his theses, which do not lose their value or relevance.
The Foundations of Heraclitus Philosophy
Ancient sages gave the world a love of wisdom and stood at the origins of the birth of many sciences. So was Heraclitus. Philosophy as a science owes him its development and origin.
The main points of the philosopher:
1. Fire as the source of everything. It is not known whether it was a question of fire in the actual sense or in the figurative (fire, as energy), but it was he who was considered by Heraclitus as the fundamental principle of the creation of the world.
2. The world and space periodically burn out from a powerful fire in order to recover again.
3. The concept of flow and circulation. The essence of the phrase: "Everything flows, everything changes." This thesis of Heraclitus is brilliantly simple, but to anyone before him the essence of variability, the course of life and time was not revealed.
4. The law of opposites. Here we are talking about the difference of concepts. As an example, the great philosopher cites the sea, which gives life to marine inhabitants, but often causes death to people. In a way, Einstein's theory of relativity owes its birth to this ingenious idea-ancestress, which came to us thanks to the great philosopher.
Unfortunately, due to the fact that the only teaching of Heraclitus came to us only in fragments, his doctrines are very difficult to interpret, they seem completely incomplete, fragmentary. Because of this, they are constantly criticized. For example, Hegel considered them untenable. We fully do not have the opportunity to evaluate and perceive them. It remains to think out and fill in the missing fragments completely intuitively, relying on hunches and traditions and views that reign in ancient Greece since the time of the great philosopher. Although he denied the influence of schools and thinkers that existed before him, it is impossible not to notice some similarities, for example, with the same Pythagoras.
Miletus school in shaping the views of the philosopher
This is a school founded by Thales in a colony of Greece in Asia, in the city of Miletus. Its peculiarity is that it was the first philosophical school of the ancient world. Created in the first half of the VI century. The main subject of study of the school was natural philosophy (the study of natural physical problems and essence). According to many scholars of science, it was from this school that astronomy and mathematics, biology and geography, physics and chemistry began their journey not only in Greece, but throughout the world. One of the main principles of the school was the provision "nothing arises from nothing." That is, every creature or phenomenon that has arisen has a root cause. Often this reason was given a divine beginning, but such a definition did not stop philosophers in their search, but helped to move on.
As we said above, Heraclitus was not a representative of any of the existing schools. But with the Miletus school, whose views he criticized and did not perceive, the philosopher entered into polemics, which was reflected in his writings.
Another feature of the school is that it perceived the world as a living whole being. There was no difference between the living and the dead; everything was interesting for science. According to some reports, it was thanks to the Miletian school that the term “philosophy” was born and was first pronounced. The love of science and knowledge was the main stimulus for development for the representatives of this society. The school of Heraclitus, as it is sometimes incorrectly called, developed in parallel with himself. Although the great sage denied this connection, it is quite obvious.
The concept of dialectics
The term "dialectics" came to us, like many others, from antiquity. It literally means "to have a dialogue, to argue."
There are many definitions of this concept, but we will focus only on the one in the mainstream of which Heraclitus worked.
For the great philosopher, the concept of dialectics was the doctrine of eternal formation and, together with this, the variability of being. The idea of Heraclitus about the eternal flow seems to us too simple, but at the time of its inception it was a major breakthrough in philosophy in particular and in science in general.
Here, of course, one can feel the views of the Miletus school and its representatives. Developing freely from Heraclitus, in completely different planes, they still intersected in their conclusions, although they were independent and obtained as a result of purely personal observations and conclusions.
In addition to the concept of dialectics, modern science owes the ancient philosopher another immortal concept and a concept that grew on its basis. This is the logo of Heraclitus - the great idea of fire as the fundamental principle of everything.
The sage of antiquity presented the concept of the logo as follows: there is peace and there is fire (actually the logo). The world began with him, in the fire awaits him and the end. In Cosmos, fires constantly occur, from which new worlds are born. Does this judgment resemble nothing? Perhaps, people with knowledge in astronomy would answer this question much faster than others. Think of the origin (and death, in principle, also) of stars in outer space. After the explosion and the release of its accumulated and then instantly given energy, a new young star is born. Perhaps, to us who know this from the school course of astronomy or physics, this information does not seem to be something supernatural. But back to the times of antiquity. Before our era, astronomy was clearly not taught at the school, so that, having learned about the process of the birth of stars, the Greek philosopher could draw up his concept. If such knowledge is not explained by science, then with what help could Heraclitus get it? Philosophy has never denied the concept of intuition, the notorious sixth sense - a gift or punishment for the chosen representatives of the human race.
The great sage was able to realize and perceive that which will be revealed only thousands of years after his death. Does this not speak of his highest wisdom and providence?
Followers of the philosopher
According to some reports, the philosopher still had a student - Kratil. Perhaps, with his light hand and desire to restore the works of his mentor, we received some distraction of the true thoughts of Heraclitus. Kratil was a diligent student, he adopted the concept of a teacher. Later, he will become, to some extent, the mentor of Plato, who will conduct conditional fictional monologues with him in his monumental “State”. The philosopher Heraclitus was so great that he inspired his followers many centuries after his death.
Plato will also follow the path of dialectics. Almost all of his works will be built on its basis. The use of dialectics will make them quite accessible and understandable.
Since Kratil was the inspirer of Plato, the great author of the "cave myth" can also conditionally be attributed to the followers of Heraclitus.
Later, Socrates and Aristotle, taking the dialectics of Heraclitus as a basis, created their own, new, fairly strong concepts. But, despite all their independence, to deny the influence of the ancient sage on them is completely unreasonable.
Of our almost contemporaries, the followers of Heraclitus were Hegel and Heidegger. Nietzsche also experienced a sufficiently strong influence of the conclusions of the Greek sage. Many of the chapters of Zarathustra are marked by this influence. The German philosopher with the world-famous name and concept of the superman thought a lot about the very concept and essence of time and its course. The axiom that everything is changing was taken for granted and developed in many works.
Denial and criticism of the ideas of Heraclitus
In 470 BC e. at the court of Hieron lived the comedian Epicharm. In many of his works, he ridiculed the theory of Heraclitus. “If a person has taken a loan, then he may not give it back, because he has already changed, this is a completely different person, so why should he give back debts for someone, ” are just one example. There were a lot of them, and now it’s hard to judge what is at stake: about ordinary entertainment at court, based on ridicule of the works of Heraclitus, or about the interpretation and criticism of his concept by the court comedian? And why did Heraclitus become the target of comic scenes? Epiharma's views on his writings were rather sarcastic and ironic. But even behind such a screen, admiration for the wisdom of the great ancient philosopher did not hide.
The same Hegel and Heidegger, using Heraclitus' judgments in many of his treatises, accused him of imperfect views, paradoxical and chaotic thoughts. Nevertheless, apparently, the fact that the works were not fully preserved, and that which is, was supplemented and rewritten by the heirs with work and students who could not understand their teacher completely, was eluded from the understanding of philosophers, which forced them to fill in the gaps with their own thoughts, and sometimes speculation.
Thoughts of Heraclitus and their place in modern philosophy
Although Heraclitus denied the influence of other individuals and schools, his views certainly did not arise out of nowhere.
Many researchers claim that the philosopher was well acquainted with the writings of Pythagoras and Diogenes. Much of what he wrote echoes the concepts introduced into the everyday life of science by these ancient sages.
The words of Heraclitus are repeated and quoted even today.
Here are the most famous theses of the sage who, having passed through millennia, have not lost their value.
- Eyes are witnesses more precise than ears. Brief wisdom, which is the true perception of man. Not knowing the human anatomy (as we recall from the sections of the article above, the school of natural philosophy only marked the beginning of the development of this branch of science), not possessing scientific knowledge about the sense organs, the philosopher subtly and accurately noted the priorities in the perception of information. Recall the saying that it is better to see once than to hear. Now similar can be found in almost every nation, but during the life of the philosopher it was a worthy discovery.
- When all the wishes of a person come true, it makes him worse. It really is. If a person has nowhere to strive for, he does not develop, but degrades. If a certain individual has everything he wants, he loses the ability to sympathize with those who are less fortunate; ceases to value what is available, takes it for granted. Thousands of years later, this thesis will be interpreted in a different way by the British writer of Irish descent, Oscar Wilde: “The gods fulfill our prayers in order to punish us, ” he will say in his brilliant novel “Portrait of Dorian Gray”. And Wilde never denied that he drew his knowledge of the world from the source of antiquity.
- Knowing a lot does not teach the mind. Some researchers believe that this phrase was said in reproach and denial of the very Miletus school. However, there is no documentary evidence of this fact, however, as well as many other episodes. The dialectic of Heraclitus in this thesis blossomed with bright colors and showed the multifaceted thinking of the great sage.
- The essence of wisdom is not only to pronounce the truth, but also, following the laws of nature, to follow it. Here we will not delve into the discussion of the essence of this conclusion of the ancient philosopher. Everyone can perceive it in their own way, but the essence of this will only be enriched in meaning.
- One for me is ten thousand, if he is the best. In this thesis is an explanation of why, during his lifetime, the Greek philosopher did not want to educate his students. Perhaps at one time he did not find any worthy ones.
- Rock is a sequence and order of causes in which one cause gives rise to another. And so on ad infinitum.
- The knowledge and understanding of the wisest sage himself is just an opinion.
- Like the deaf are those who, while listening, do not perceive. One can say about them that, being present, they are absent. In this statement, Heraclitus expressed all the bitterness from the misunderstanding that he had to face. He was too ahead of his time to have a chance of understanding.
- Anger is very difficult to fight. You can pay with your life for everything that it requires. But it is even more difficult to defeat the desire for pleasure in oneself. It is stronger than anger.
