32: Heraclitus of Ephesus – Philosopher of Fire

Agora Politics

Heraclitus stands alone among the pre-socratic philosophers. Contradictory, riddlesome, and enigmatic, he remains one of the most influential, yet least well-understood figures in Western philosophy. Born to a noble family in Ephesus, a city in Ionia, Greek Asia Minor, present day Turkey. Supposedly, he passed on a kingship, awarding it instead to his brother, to pursue a life as a roaming philosopher. He was self-taught. Heraclitus is not associated with any of the prominent schools of philosphy known to us from the time, and is regarded as an independent thinker and misanthrope, one who looked to break away from orthodoxies that pervaded his day. He drew influence from Anaxamander, Thales, and others; was critical of Pythagoras, and was most notably influential on Cratylus, who brought his philosophy to Athens, where Plato was introduced to it. Aristotle viewed Heraclitus as contradicting the Law of Noncontradiction, and regarded his unusual style of obscurantist, pithy, and ambiguous assertions as incoherent. Regardless, he proved influential not only to the Stoics, but also to nearly all of Western philosophy that followed. Whenever you hear of the life of Heraclitus, they will say we don’t know much on the account of his life due to the sparse remaining fragments of his writings, and suspiciousness of the stories passed down from later writers, or sayings attributed, that may be imposed or fabricated altogether. Most of what we know comes from a single source, Diogenes Laertius and his Lives. In his lifetime, Heraclitus, produced but one book, which was stored in the great Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. and has since been lost in time. This work was supposedly tripartly divided into sections on cosmology, politics, and theology. The book was so inlfuential in its time, despite there being only one original copy available to whoever ventured to seek it out. It spawned a legion of followers, known as the Heraclitians, posthumonously. What remains of his life’s work comes down to us in fragments, 12 9, which constitute the perplexing, paradoxical, playful, somewhat sardonic philosophy of the Weeping Philosopher. A sampling of the fragments will constitute our main subject today. In true Heraclitian fashion, I will expound upon selected fragments, and give but my interpretation of what might be meant. Some have decided, in other readings, to choose passages at random, employing random number generators for the task, a method which I find to be trivializing to both Heraclitus and the student of Heraclitus. The philosopher himself encouraged what we might recognize as Stoic virtues of courage, rectitude, and an overall antiplebian, even aristocratic orientation. Therefore it is prudent to exercise one’s capacity for discernment in selecting from his works; to do otherwise is to treat him not as a philosopher, but as an archaic curiosity, observed voyeuristically in the zoo of ancient ideas. Core Heraclitian principles: the unity of opposites, the theory of flux, the primordial flame in all things and which was there in the beginning, will make themselves known as we go along. It is worth noting, that a not insignificant portion of the meaning that would be passed down in writing, even discounting our lack of original volume, may be lost in translation, as many of his sayings and espousings involved semantic and rhetorical wordplay, but neither I, nor most of you, read Ancient Greek. If you find my interpretations wanting, I’d encourage you to posit your own. There are only 130 fragments, most of which are quite brief, so those of you looking to see for yourself what Heraclitus was all about, can easily work through them in under an hour to gain familiarity, and even seek out additional translations/footnotes/and interpretations, to complement the ones provided here. In keeping cognizant of the principle of flux, I expect my own understandings to change going forward. After all, you can’t cross the same fragment twice.