This week in Philosopher Fridays I’m continuing to explore the theme of time and our phenomenological experience of it as part of a thematic mini-series on Literary Time Consciousness.
HERACLITUS: Pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus (fl. 500 B.C.) is known as the “dark philosopher” because much of his life is still a mystery. Scholars do know that he hailed from Ephesus and that his views were incredibly influential, with the likes of Plato, Hegel, Nieztche, Bergson, and more citing his wisdom in their works. The IEP entry is a great source of information, but I like the translations from my yellowing fourth edition copy of Prentice Hall’s Ancient Philosophy reader from the series Philosophic Classics (with commentary by Forrest E. Baird and Walter Kaufmann).
Many of the Pre-Socratic philosopher sought to find the central element of the universe which made up and explained all things. Later ancient philosophers would either deny this unity, suppose it to be something metaphysical, and even posit an atomistic universe. Heraclitus was generally on board with this project, but had his own unique spin. While other philosophers thought that all things were made up of a water, or music, or air, he chose fire as his central element, because while he did suppose there to be a unity to the universe, what truly unified all of being was it’s utter changeability. The IEP captures this succinctly:
The world itself consists of a law-like interchange of elements, symbolized by fire. Thus the world is not to be identified with any particular substance, but rather with an ongoing process governed by a law of change.
You can hear in this explanation some foreshadowing to the modern idea that in science, the only constant is change. What I love about Heraclitus’ words are his emphasis on the flow of human experience, of coming to be and passing away in subjective turn.
From pages 16-18 in the Baird/Kaufmann:
“In the same river we both step and do not step, we are and are not.”
“It is not possible to step twice into the same river.”
“Upon those that step into the same rivers different and different waters flow.”
“Fire, having come upon them, will judge and seize upon [condemn] all things.”
“This world-order [the same of all] did none of gods or men make, but it always was and is and shall be: an ever-living fire, kindling in measures and going out in measures.”
The implications of this are manifold; there is a separation between objective reality and the lived reality that is not unlike what later becomes Plato’s distinction between the Forms themselves and our limited experience of them in the world, or Beothius’ distinction between a God outside of time and our temporal nature.
For many thinkers, Heraclitus’ understanding of a unity that is ever-changing is contradictory, but I think that the metaphor of a river is exceptionally clear. While the waters in a river change every moment in a constant flow, we yet still quantify the river as one. And while we typically think of time and experience as something rushing us along, it’s also something that flows through us in continuous change that yet leaves us singularly in tact – just as we can ride down a river and rush through life, or we can plant our feet and let it flow through us.
It also sets up Anselm’s model for the Catholic Trinity in a way that makes more sense than most explanations, but I’ll save that for another day. For more on time and temporality, check back next Wednesday for a post on literature that undermines our concept of time, and then next Friday as we turn to Husserl.
9 thoughts on “Philosopher Fridays: Heraclitus”
jesse (@jaymop)
I really like this one. a great reminder that all things change, but that does not leave them incomplete or un-whole.
Michelle Joelle
Me too! It helps resolve some of the tension I feel between my desire for a “real reality” and my desire for complexity and uniqueness. I also like Aquinas’ answer to this, but that’s a whole ‘mother kettle of fish, and I’ll need to sort out my thoughts before I say more on that!
SelfAwarePatterns
I find the pre-socratic philosophers interesting. What led them to start thinking of the world systematically? What kind of society enabled that kind of thought? Did they have any precursors in the ancient world, in Egypt or Mesopotamia? Or did that kind of thought emerge for the first time in Ionia?
Michelle Joelle
From what I know, it was kind of a slow build. Heraclitus was a bit of a solitary figure, but others fed off of each other and Homeric poetry pretty freely. Thales was the first of the Greeks (I think, might be wrong, no books around at the moment), and his big deal was that he wanted something better than a good story to explain things.
s7hummel
there are really few wise people born in Poland and known in the world: Copernicus, Curie, Conrad, Chopin… and with thinkers – real tragedy! and who had heard about Jacob Bronowski! born in Poland… but what’s terribly sad… actually completely unknown, even there is no translation of his works! and as the situation in the countries of the English-speaking world? does Michelle read something by this author… if not, it’s really worth!
The Common Sense of Science., The Ascent of Man (+bbc series).
Michelle Joelle
I actually have heard of Bronowski! I can’t say I’m very familiar, and I will make an effort to explore his work sometime soon. I believe he wrote mostly in English?
s7hummel
actually, Bronowski wrote only in English (as Polish writer known as Conrad)! when it comes to translating, i meant the fact that Bronowski was a wonderful thinker who was born in Poland and there are no translations of his works in the Polish language.
Tienzen (Jeh-Tween) Gong
“… of coming to be and passing away in subjective turn. …Thus the world is not to be identified with any particular substance, but rather with an ongoing process governed by a law of change. …It is not possible to step twice into the same river.” … there is a separation between objective reality and the lived reality… Heraclitus’ understanding of a unity that is ever-changing…”
Excellent post.
Chinois en France @ LinkedIn group invited me to give a complete lecture on Yijing (Chinese Book of Change). For any non-member of the LinkedIn group, I have post the entire lectures at http://www.chineselanguageforums.com/chinese-idioms/yijing-linkedin-t2065.html .
I think that a comparison between Heraclitus’ thought and the ideas in the book of Yijing might be something that your readers be interested in.
rung2diotimasladder
Transcendence within imminence. Always an interesting topic! Also, thanks for refreshing my memory on what Heraclitus said. I recall it has something to do with a river, but I keep remembering it wrong for some reason.