Heraclitus

(Originally Written August 30, 2006 in History I)

The Classical Mind by W.T. Jones

Heraclitus was an Ionian. He held that the world was composed of an everlasting fire.

Heraclitus believed the problem of one substance becoming many substances an insolvable one so long as the primal substance is taken as a material thing.

Heraclitus believed that the fire which was everlasting was not a "stuff" but a process of perpetual change.

Heraclitus proposed everything was in a constant state of flux. He then stated things appear to be still, but that is only because the flux is constant. Heraclitus developed the notion and subsequent problem of appearances vs. reality.

Heraclitus' Moral & Social Theory:

The Milesians were focused on the nature of the physical world solely. Heraclitus on the other hand, was primarily concerned with man and his destiny.

Heraclitus believed the social world existed in flux just like the physical world.

He held war to be as the king of all and believed that strife is justice. He held this because without strife their could be no peace. To Heraclitus, strife was the hidden tensions between opposites.

Heraclitus was sympathetic to the nobility in his beliefs.

His contempt for the public can be summed up in his aphorism: "Asses would rather have straw than gold" (Jones, 17).

Heraclitus' Religion:

The men who accepted the Milesian science rejected the old religion of Homer & Hesiod. Heraclitus was Milesian in thought and looked down at the public for their adherence to the old religion. Heraclitus was not an atheist though. He believed god was inextricably connected to the eternal process of change. He believed the god to be indifferent to men.

Heraclitus rejected the notion of a personal god, but his retention of the universal nature laid the foundation for his belief in the concept of natural law.

Despite his rejection of common Greek religion and a personal deity, his theological concept of "logos" and man's chief good as listening to said "logos" became absorbed in later Stoic and Christian traditions. "Logos" was the social process for Heraclitus.

Heraclitus proved to be both a scientific and religious philosopher.