Heraclitus of Ephesus was one of the main philosophers of Antique pre-Socratic. It is classified as attend the Ionian school only because of its geographic location and the didactic ease with which this classification allows us to understand its thinking. The philosopher's work was characterized by starting a rupture movement in pre-Socratic philosophy which, together with the ideas of the Eleatics, would lead to the philosophies Socratic, platonic and Aristotelian.
See more:Tales of Miletus, philosopher considered to be the founder of the Ionian school
Biography
Life
At information about Heraclitus' life are often contradictory and mismatched. Little is known for sure about the philosopher's biographical and intellectual trajectory. ancient historians such as Diogenes Laertius and Nehants of Cisicus are the main sources doxographic|1| safe.
One knows that Heráclitus was born in the city of Éfeso in 540 a. Ç. It's true that he was son of the high aristocracy of the city, son of the ruler Bloson or, according to other information, of Heront, king of Ephesus. Heraclitus' complicated and proud personality made him refuse political life and abdicate his inheritance from the throne of Ephesus, passing it on to his brother.
This refusal for political honors was due to a extreme contempt that Heraclitus had for people and society (especially by the plebs), being classified as a misanthrope. The thinker was much criticized for this attitude in his time, but since he was a child, he was admired for your wisdom.
It is speculated that his intellectual maturity, when he developed the most significant part of his work, occurred around the age of 40, when the 69th Olympiad of the ancient world took place. Despite the high philosophical production of the thinker, recognized today for its historical importance, in his time he was rejected several times for his isolated life.
In his adult life he retired, for a time, to the temple of the goddess Artemis and later went to a solitary retreat and durable in the mountains, feeding only on plants. In his old age he was affected by a disease known by the ancients as hydrops, also known today as edema, which consists of the abnormal accumulation of fluid by the cells and cavities of the body, causing swelling and abnormal functioning of the organs.
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Death
On the occasion of the illness, Heraclitus was forced to return to the city and consult the professionals he so criticized: doctors. The thinker asked the professionals if they could make their body's flood a drought, without getting the doctors' understanding of what it was. Giving up on conventional treatment, he thought that the heat from the manure produced in the stables could cause the liquid to evaporate from his body. he sank in the manure.
Some sources say that his body, already weakened, was unable to detach itself from the feces, having died submerged by asphyxia and his body remained there for a long time. Unrecognizable by putrefaction, may have been devoured by dogs. Other sources say that Heraclitus managed to get out of the dung, and that he would have died later from natural causes, probably linked to your illness. It is only true that he died in the year of 470 a. Ç., at 70 years of age.
Main ideas
Heraclitus inaugurates a way of thinking about the emergence of the Universe different from what the Ionians and Pythagoreans, since, while these presented a material unity as the original element of everything, Heraclitus deposited his speculation in an element (the fire), for its ability to move, shake and transform things. According to this thinker, the world and nature are constant movements. Everything changes all the time, and the perpetual flow (constant movement) is the main characteristic of nature.
See too:Pythagoras and his idea of the origin of things based on a unit
Professor José Cavalcanti de Souza explains the essence of all Heraclitus thinking about nature, based on the following passage from the collection of texts on pre-Socratic philosophers from collection the thinkers: “Heraclitus says, in some passage, that all things move and nothing remains immobile. And, when comparing beings with the current of a river, he affirms that he could not enter the same river twice.”| 2 |
This statement condenses the meaning of the Heraclitian flux, as constant movement is the main mark of nature. Nothing stays static, everything moves, everything changes. The river changes every second, just as a person changes every second, so the same person cannot enter the same river twice, because both she and the river are no longer the same in the instant after the first bath.
Heraclitus argues that there is no natural unity in the world, but duels and constant duality. “The world is an eternal becoming”, says the philosopher, meaning that there is a constant, unpredictable change that characterizes nature. The Thinker despises the notion of essence and argues that there is a mutability, arising from various continuous processes, which results in what the world is. This relationship is composed by the duel between opposites, which generates new features. For thinking like that, Heraclitus is considered the "Dad of dialectic.
There are differences regarding the work of Heraclitus, as scholars have agreed that he would have written a complete work, called about nature. However, more recent research tries to demonstrate that the philosopher's work consists of a set of spaced and separated aphorisms, not being a single set.
However, the current publications bring together the Heraclitian fragments to publish them in a work entitled about nature, because that's the general theme, whether it's a single book or not. This confusion was caused by the encounter of fragments, supposedly authored by the philosopher, which would not have a continuity. It is not known for sure if the fragmented work was purposely written like this (in the form of aphorisms) or if such fragmentation was due to the action of time and human beings.
Parmenides
We have, in pre-Socratic philosophy, an opposition of thoughts that consists in the biggest dispute in the ancient world: on the one hand, Heraclitus defends the continuous change of things and the refusal to a fixed and rigid essence that defines everything. From another, Parmenides argues that there is no change, because the essences remain the same and the change that takes place is superficial, the result of the deception of the senses.
In fact, Heraclitus and Parmenides did not know each other, but the conflicting relationship of the thoughts of both philosophers was recognized in the works of Plato, Aristotle, and the pluralist Presocratics.
In addition to recognizing this opposition, the pluralist pre-Socratics they dedicated themselves to formulating cosmological theories that could explain this opposition, making a point of showing that in the world there is, ambiguously, movement and immobility. If you are more interested in this subject, read our text about the main disciple of Parmenides: Zeno of Elea.
Sentences
“We cannot bathe twice in the same river because the waters are renewed every moment.”
"The eyes and ears are bad testimonies when the soul is no good."
“The opposition brings concord. From discord comes the most perfect harmony.”
“The true constitution of things likes to hide.”
"For awakened beings, there is only one common world."
"The only thing that doesn't change is that everything changes."
Also access:The rise of philosophy
Grades
|1| Doxographic sources are textual sources based on doxography, which consists of the non-literal transcription of a writer's ideas through the interpretation of another writer. As an example, we can take the studies of contemporary researchers of the philosophy of Heraclitus, who, in the absence of complete writings (most of the work of Heraclitus was lost and what was left is fragmented due to the action of time), they must complete their thoughts with an interpretation consistent with their form of think.
|2| The Presocratics. In: the pre-Socratics. The Thinkers Collection. Trans. José Cavalcanti de Souza et al. São Paulo: Nova Cultural, 1996, p. 93.
by Francisco Porfirio
Philosophy teacher