This article may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions. (June 2009)

Heraclitus

Western Philosophy Ancient philosophy
Heraclitus by Johannes Moreelse. The image depicts him as "the weeping philosopher" wringing his hands over the world and "the obscure" dressed in dark clothing, both traditional motifs.
Full name	Heraclitus
Born	ca. 535 BCE
Died	475 BCE
School/tradition	Not considered to belong to any school of thought, but later subscribers to the philosophy were "Heracliteans."
Main interests	Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, Politics
Notable ideas	Logos, flow
Influenced Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Whitehead, Karl Popper, among many others

Heraclitus of Ephesus (Ancient Greek: Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος — Hērákleitos ho Ephésios, English Heraclitus the Ephesian) (ca. 535–475 BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor. This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, although for Western thinkers prior to Socrates, see Pre-Socratic philosophy. ... Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome) Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy investigating principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. ... Theory of knowledge redirects here: for other uses, see theory of knowledge (disambiguation) Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, knowledge + λόγος, logos) or theory of knowledge is a branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. ... For other uses, see Ethics (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Politics (disambiguation). ... This article is about logos (logoi) in ancient Greek philosophy, mathematics, rhetoric, Theophilosophy, and Christianity. ... Parmenides of Elea (Greek: , early 5th century BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Hellenic city on the southern coast of Italy. ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 - August 25, 1900) was a highly influential German philosopher. ... Alfred North Whitehead, OM (February 15, 1861, Ramsgate, Kent, England – December 30, 1947, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.) was an English-born mathematician who became a philosopher. ... Sir Karl Raimund Popper (July 28, 1902 â€“ September 17, 1994) was an Austrian and British[1] philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics. ... The Greek language (Greek Ελληνικά, IPA // – Hellenic) is an Indo-European language with a documented history of some 3,000 years. ... The Pre-Socratic philosophers were active before Socrates or contemporaneously, but expounding knowledge developed earlier. ... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ... For the town in the southern United States, see Ephesus, Georgia. ... Location of Ionia Ionia (Greek Ιωνία; see also list of traditional Greek place names) was an ancient region of southwestern coastal Anatolia (in present-day Turkey, the region nearest Ä°zmir,) on the Aegean Sea. ... Anatolia (Greek: ανατολη anatole, rising of the sun or East; compare Orient and Levant, by popular etymology Turkish Anadolu to ana mother and dolu filled), also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to the Asian portion of Turkey. ...

Heraclitus is known for his doctrine of change being central to the universe, and that the Logos is the fundamental order of all. Today, he is famous for his influence on Friedrich Nietzsche by the idea of every moment being its own universe; summarized in his famous quote, "You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you."^[1] Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Change For other uses, see Change (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Universe (disambiguation). ... This article is about logos (logoi) in ancient Greek philosophy, mathematics, rhetoric, Theophilosophy, and Christianity. ... Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: ) was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and philologist. ... Philosophy of space and time is the branch of philosophy concerned with the issues surrounding the ontology, epistemology, and character of space and time. ...

Ancient characterizations

The obscure

At some time in antiquity he acquired this epithet denoting that his major sayings were difficult to understand. Timon of Phlius calls him "the riddler" (ainiktēs) according to Diogenes Laërtius,^[2] who had just explained that Heraclitus wrote his book "rather unclearly" (asaphesteron) so that only the "capable" should attempt it. By the time of Cicero he had become "the dark" (Ancient Greek ὁ Σκοτεινός — ho Skoteinós^[3]) because he had spoken nimis obscurē, "too obscurely", concerning nature and had done so deliberately in order to be misunderstood. The customary English translation of ὁ Σκοτεινός follows the Latin, "the obscure." Timon (c. ... Diogenes Laërtius, the biographer of the Greek philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname from the town of Laerte in Cilicia, and by others from the Roman family of the Laërtii. ... For other uses, see Cicero (disambiguation). ...

The weeping philosopher

Diogenes Laërtius ascribes to Theophrastus the theory that Heraclitus did not complete some of his works because of melancholia.^[2] Later he was referred to as the "weeping philosopher", as opposed to Democritus, who is known as the "laughing philosopher".^[4] If Stobaeus^[5] writes correctly, Sotion in the early 1st century AD was already combining the two in the imaginative duo of weeping and laughing philosophers: "Among the wise, instead of anger, Heraclitus was overtaken by tears, Democritus by laughter." The view is expressed by the satirist Juvenal:^[6] Diogenes Laërtius, the biographer of the Greek philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname from the town of Laerte in Cilicia, and by others from the Roman family of the Laërtii. ... Theophrastus (Greek Θεόφραστος, 370 — about 285 BC), a native of Eressos in Lesbos, was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. ... Melancholy redirects here. ... ‎ Democritus (Greek: ) was a pre-Socratic Greek materialist philosopher (born at Abdera in Thrace ca. ... Joannes Stobaeus, so called from his native place Stobi in Macedonia, was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. ... Sotion of Alexandria (fl. ... ‎ Democritus (Greek: ) was a pre-Socratic Greek materialist philosopher (born at Abdera in Thrace ca. ... Woodcut of Juvenal from the Nuremberg Chronicle Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, Anglicized as Juvenal, was a Roman satiric poet of the late 1st century and early 2nd century. ...

The first of prayers, best known at all the temples, is mostly for riches .... Seeing this then do you not commend the one sage Democritus for laughing ... and the master of the other school Heraclitus for his tears?

The motif was also adopted by Lucian of Samosata in his "Sale of Creeds", in which the duo is sold together as a complementary product in the satirical auction of philosophers. Subsequently they were considered an indispensable feature of philosophic landscapes. Montaigne proposed two archetypical views of human affairs based on them, selecting Democritus' for himself.^[7] The weeping philosopher makes an appearance in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.^[8] Donato Bramante painted a fresco, "Democritus and Heraclitus", in Casa Panigarola in Milan.^[9] And so on. Lucian of Samosata (c. ... Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (French pronounced ) (February 28, 1533–September 13, 1592) was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Title page of the first quarto (1600) The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1596 and 1598. ... Donato Bramante Donato Bramante (1444 – March 11, 1514) was an Italian architect, who introduced the Early Renaissance style to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome, where his most famous design was St. ... For other uses, see Milan (disambiguation). ...

The naturalist

Diogenes says that the book attributed to Heraclitus was On Nature (peri physeōs).^[2] Heraclitus' statement that "nature likes to hide"^[10] places him among those seeking the hidden nature of things, including those who were finding an explanation in substance.

Heraclitus had a rather different idea of the hidden nature than substance, but he was being called physicus at least as early as Cicero:^[11] For other uses, see Cicero (disambiguation). ...

nemo physicus obscurus? ... valde Heraclitus obscurus ....
no physicus was obscure? ... Heraclitus the obscure certainly was.

If physis is nature, then physikos must translate to naturalist, but the term in English can have a great many meanings not necessarily implied by the ancient Greek.

Life

The main source for the life of Heraclitus is Diogenes Laërtius. Some have questioned the validity of the anecdotes based on political or social conjecture;^[12][13] however, there is no solid scholarship refuting them. Diogenes Laërtius, the biographer of the Greek philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname from the town of Laerte in Cilicia, and by others from the Roman family of the Laërtii. ...

Dates

Diogenes said that Heraclitus flourished in the 69th Olympiad,^[2][14] which would be 504-501 BC. All the rest of the evidence – whom Heraclitus is said to have known or who implies that he was familiar with Heraclitus' work – confirms the floruit but does nothing to establish the start and end dates. Those vary by several years in different authors but all are based on a life span of 60 years, the age at which Diogenes says he died,^[2] with the floruit in the middle. An Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Olympic Games of Classical Greece. ... Floruit (or fl. ...

Circumstances

Heraclitus was born to an aristocratic family in Ephesus, present-day Efes, Turkey. His father was named either Blosōn or Herakōn.^[2] Diogenes says that he abdicated the kingship (basileia) in favor of his brother^[2] and Strabo confirms that there was a ruling family in Ephesus descended from the Ionian founder, Androclus, which still kept the title and could sit in the chief seat at the games, as well as a few other privileges.^[15] For the town in the southern United States, see Ephesus, Georgia. ... Look up abdication in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ...

How much power the king had is another question. Ephesus had been part of the Persian Empire since 547 and was ruled by a satrap (see under Ephesus), a more distant figure, as the Great King allowed the Ionians considerable autonomy. Diogenes says that Heraclitus used to play knuckle-bones with the youths in the temple of Artemis and when asked to start making laws he refused saying that the constitution (politeia) was ponēra,^[2] which can mean either that it was fundamentally wrong or that it gave him a headache. Persia redirects here. ... Look up satrap in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the town in the southern United States, see Ephesus, Georgia. ... For other uses, see Artemis (disambiguation). ...

Education

With regard to education, Diogenes says that Heraclitus was "marvellous" (thaumasios) from childhood, which is an implication of prodigy.

Diogenes relates that Sotion said he was a "hearer" of Xenophanes, which seems to be paradoxical, as (so says Diogenes) he had taught himself by questioning himself. The word hearer implies that he was physically present at the speaking of Xenophanes in some capacity. English pupil or disciple have implications not in the Greek as to method, purpose and assent. Burnet states in any case that "... Xenophanes left Ionia before Herakleitos (Greek spelling) was born."^[16] Insufficient information survives to resolve the question. Sotion of Alexandria (fl. ... Xenophanes of Colophon (Greek: Ξενοφάνης, 570 BC-480 BC) was a Greek philosopher, poet, and social and religious critic. ...

Diogenes relates that as a boy Heraclitus had said he "knew nothing" but later claimed to "know everything."^[2] The Greek for "know" changes from the aorist, or indefinite past, to the perfect, which is a stative aspect: he was in a state of knowing as a result of some previous event. For the event he affirmed that he "heard no one" but "questioned himself." The implication is that man contains all knowledge within himself to be elicited by self-questioning, and yet he says: "The things that can be seen, heard and learned are what I prize the most"^[17] The self-examination then may only be a program of objective inquiry. Aorist (from Greek αοριστός without horizon, unbounded) a verb tense used in some Indo-European languages, such as Classical Greek, to denote action, or in the indicative mood, past action, without further implication. ... The perfect tenses are verb tenses showing actions completed at or before a specific time. ... A stative verb is one which asserts that one of its arguments has a particular property (possibly in relation to its other arguments). ...

Character

Diogenes relates that Heraclitus had a poor opinion of human affairs.^[2] He believed that Hesiod and Pythagoras lacked understanding though learned^[18] and that Homer and Archilochus deserved to be beaten.^[19] Laws needed to be defended as though they were city walls.^[20] Timon is said to have called him a "mob-reviler" who did his reviling, either really or figuratively, in a voice as shrill as a cuckoo. Pythagoras of Samos (Greek: ; born between 580 and 572 BC, died between 500 and 490 BC) was an Ionian Greek mathematician[1] and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. ... Archilochus (Greek: ) (c. ... Timon may refer to: A given name of Greek origin: Timon (philosopher), a Skeptic philosopher of classical Greece Timon of Athens (person) a legendary misanthrope Timon the Deacon, an early Christian leader Fiction: Timon of Athens, a play by William Shakespeare Timon (Lion King), a film and television character, originally...

Diogenes quotes a letter from Darius inviting him to come to court to explain his writings and offering him rank and good company. Heraclitus refuses: "All men upon earth hold aloof from truth and justice, while, by reason of wicked folly, they devote themselves to avarice and thirst for popularity." No reaction of the king to these words has been recorded. Apparently the excuse that he had a "horror of splendour" and "was content with little" was accepted.^[2] Darius (in Persian داريوش (Dah-rii-yoosh)) is a common Persian male name. ...

Heraclitus hated the Athenians and his fellow Ephesians, wishing the latter wealth in punishment for their wicked ways.^[21] Says Diogenes: "Finally, he became a hater of his kind (misanthrope) and wandered the mountains ... making his diet of grass and herbs." This article is about the capital of Greece. ...

Works

Diogenes says: "As to the work which passes as his, it is a continuous treatise On Nature, but is divided into three discourses, one on the universe, another on politics, and a third on theology." Theophrastus says (in Diogenes) "... some parts of his work are half-finished, while other parts make a strange medley."^[2] Theophrastus (Greek Θεόφραστος, 370 — about 285 BC), a native of Eressos in Lesbos, was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. ...

Diogenes also tells us that he deposited his book as a dedication in the great temple of Artemis, the Artemisium, one of the largest temples of the 6th century BCE and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Ancient temples were regularly used for storing treasures, and were open to private individuals under exceptional circumstances; furthermore, many subsequent philosophers in this period refer to the work. Says Kahn:^[12] "Down to the time of Plutarch and Clement, if not later, the little book of Heraclitus was available in its original form to any reader who chose to seek it out." Diogenes says:^[2] "the book acquired such fame that it produced partisans of his philosophy who were called Heracliteans." For other uses, see Artemis (disambiguation). ... The site of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Turkey. ... This article is about the Seven Ancient Wonders. ... Mestrius Plutarchus (Greek: Πλούταρχος; 46 - 127), better known in English as Plutarch, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist. ... ...

Unfortunately, as with other pre-Socratics, his writings only survive in fragments quoted by other authors.

Death

Heraclitus' life as a philosopher was interrupted by a general edema and impairment of vision. The physicians he consulted were unable to prescribe a cure. He treated himself with a liniment of cow manure and baking in the sun, believing that this method would remove the fluid. After 24 hours of treatment he died and was interred in the marketplace.^[2] Not to be confused with Adema. ... Liniment, from the Latin linere, to anoint, is a medicinal preparation meant for external use, but one that is thinner in consistency than an ointment. ...

Philosophy

Panta rhei, "everything is in a state of flux"

Πάντα ῥεῖ (panta rhei) "everything is in a state of flux" either was not spoken by Heraclitus or did not survive as a quotation of his. This famous aphorism used to characterize Heraclitus' thought comes from Simplicius.^[22] The word rhei, adopted by rhe-o-logy, is simply the Greek word for "to stream."^[23] The word aphorism (literally distinction or definition, from Greek: ) denotes an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and easily memorable form. ... Simplicius, a native of Cilicia, a disciple of Ammonius and of Damascius, was one of the last of the Neoplatonists. ... Rheology is the study of the deformation and flow of matter under the influence of an applied stress. ...

Heraclitus by Hendrick ter Brugghen

The philosophy of Heraclitus is summed up in his cryptic utterance:^[24] Hendrick ter Brugghen, Flute Player (1621) Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen, or Terbrugghen, (c. ...

ποταμοῖσι τοῖσιν αὐτοῖσιν ἐμϐαίνουσιν, ἕτερα καὶ ἕτερα ὕδατα ἐπιρρεῖ.
Potamoisi toisin autoisin embainousin, hetera kai hetera hudata epirrei
"On those stepping into rivers the same, other and other waters flow."

The quote from Heraclitus is interpreted by Plato as:^[25] For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ...

πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει
Panta chōrei kai ouden menei

Instead of "flow" Plato uses chōrei, to change chōros, or ground, and not to "remain", with which menei is cognate. Just previously Plato explained:^[26] Look up cognate in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν
ta onta ienai te panta kai menein ouden
"All beings going and remaining not at all"

At first thought Heraclitus might be supposed to be asserting nothing more profound or obscure than that we exist in a field or continuum in which everything is constantly in flux or process: a non-remarkable observation for such a famous philosophy. However, the assertions of flow are coupled in many fragments with the enigmatic river image:^[27]

"Ποταμοῖς τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐμβαίνομέν τε καὶ οὐκ ἐμβαίνομεν, εἶμέν τε καὶ οὐκ εἶμεν."
"We both step and do not step in the same rivers. We are and are not."

As a fellow Ionian, Heraclitus was certainly familiar with the preceding substance solution of the Milesian school to the problem of change. The problem only exists under the law of identity, one formulation of which is the law of excluded middle. The classical formulation of that law had to wait for Aristotle but it was nevertheless known and operant in pre-socratic philosophy. Location of Ionia Ionia (Greek Ιωνία; see also list of traditional Greek place names) was an ancient region of southwestern coastal Anatolia (in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir,) on the Aegean Sea. ... Substance theory, or substance attribute theory, is an ontological theory about objecthood, positing that a substance is distinct from its properties. ... The Milesian school was a school of thought founded in the 6th Century BC. The ideas associated with it are exemplified by three philosophers from the Ionian town of Miletus, on the edge of Anatolia: Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. ... Philosophers who attempt to describe how an entity changes often refer to what they call the problem of change: how can something stay itself through change. ... In logic, the law of identity states that A = A. Any reflexive relation upholds the law of identity; when discussing equality, the fact that A is A is a tautology. ... “Excluded middle” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... The Pre-Socratic philosophers were active before Socrates or contemporaneously, but expounding knowledge developed earlier. ...

In the fragment above Heraclitus is proposing that another law also is in effect. The law of identity states that an identity, say A, is identical to itself, is not non-A, and is not both A and non-A. Heraclitus affirms the middle in the passage above, that the A is both A and not-A. As far as the assertion is true, the change problem disappears and does not need a solution.

According to fragment DK B91: "nor is it possible to touch a mortal substance twice" and DK B6: "The sun is ... not only new each day but forms continually new ...." the Heraclitean law only applies in cases where the identity is sampled diachronically. The sampling rate can be adjusted to as rapidly as an object can be touched, or to the rate of flow of the stream, or daily, or by extrapolation to the frequency at which a photon can be perceived. Heraclitus just said "continually" and theorized: "simultaneously it forms and dissolves."^[28]

It seems clear that the stream of the metaphor is time and that the stepping in it is the instant of the present. Heraclitus is therefore asserting that an object is and is not identical with itself of x instants ago.

Kalliste Harmonia, "the fairest harmony"

Milesian philosophy was based on a binary law, which postulates a binary existence: objects either fully exist as completely identical to themselves or do not exist at all. There are two states, off or on. In Heraclitus the existence can be both off and on: a middle state of existing that is to some degree off and to some degree on.

The middle characteristic results from Heraclitus' existence being a derived quantity rather than a given one. It is the resultant of "simultaneous formation and dissolution" (see previous section) in the current instant, which explains such fragments as:

The way up and the way down are one and the same.^[29]

... what is drawn together and what is drawn asunder ... The one is made up of all things and all things issue from the one.^[30]

In the circumference of the circle the beginning and the end are common.^[31]

... it (substance) approaches and departs.^[28]

As for the resultant, it is a "harmony":^[32]

ἐκ τῶν διαφερόντων καλλίστην ἁρμονίαν
ek tōn diapherontōn kallistēn harmonian
"out of discord comes the fairest harmony."^[33]

Hodos ano kato, "the way up and the way down"

In ὁδὸς ἄνω κάτω^[34] the structure anō katō is more accurately translated as a hyphenated word: "the upward-downward path." They go on simultaneously and instantaneously (see previous section) and result in "hidden harmony".^[35] A way is a series of transformations which imply a chronological sequence no matter how closely spaced: the πυρὸς τροπαὶ, "turnings of fire,"^[36] first into sea, then half of sea to earth and half to rarefied air.

The transformation is a replacement of one element by another: "The death of fire is the birth of air, and the death of air is the birth of water;"^[37] moreover, the replacement is quantitatively determined, in which there appears to be a foreshadowing of conservation of mass: The law of conservation of mass/matter, also known as law of mass/matter conservation (or the Lomonosov-Lavoisier law), states that the mass of a closed system of substances will remain constant, regardless of the processes acting inside the system. ...

"Sea ... is measured by the same amount (logos) as before it became earth"^[38]

or again:

This world, which is the same for all,^[39] no one of gods or men has made. But it always was and will be: an ever-living fire, with measures of it kindling, and measures going out.^[40]

This latter phraseology is further elucidated:

All things are an interchange for fire, and fire for all things, just like goods for gold and gold for goods.^[41]

Dike eris, "strife is justice"

If objects are new from moment to moment so that one can never touch the same object twice, then each object must dissolve and be generated continually momentarily and an object is a harmony between a building up and a tearing down. This is a foreshadowing of the scientific concept of equilibrium in many contexts. Heraclitus calls the oppositional processes eris, "strife", and hypothesizes that the apparently stable state, dikē, or "justice," is a harmony of it:^[42] Look up equilibrium in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

We must know that war (polemos) is common to all and strife is justice, and that all things come into being through strife necessarily.

As Diogenes explains:^[43]

All things come into being by conflict of opposites, and the sum of things (ta hola, "the whole") flows like a stream.

In the bow metaphor Heraclitus compares the resultant to a strung bow held in shape by an equilibrium of the string tension and spring action of the bow:^[44] This article is about metaphor in literature and rhetoric. ...

There is a harmony in the bending back (palintropos) as in the case of the bow and the lyre.

Heraclitus here references the Scythian bow, the horns of which pointed forward unstrung but back strung, or the deformation of the cross-bar of the lyre under string tension. The palintropos of an object would therefore be its stinting from the growth of the current instant by the decay of the object of the previous. This identity-not-identity accounts for such statements as:^[45] Modern recurve bow // A recurve bow is a form of bow defined by the side-view profile; in contrast to the simple longbow, a recurve bow has tips that curve away from the archer when the bow is aimed. ... “Lyres” redirects here. ...

It is one and the same thing to be living and dead, awake or asleep, young or old.

A change is the result of a change in balance:^[46]

Cold things become warm, and what is warm cools; what is wet dries, and the parched is moistened.

Hepesthai to koino, "follow the common"

The idea that the universe changes according to a plan or logos, with which the truly aware soul should cooperate, is expressed in the notable but obscure DK B1 and DK B2. The first phrase of the first fragment can be interpreted as "of the logos which is as I describe it" or "though this word is true evermore" depending on how the words are to be regarded as clustered and what is or is not implied by them. The meaning of logos also is subject to interpretation: "word", "plan", "formula", "measure", "proportion", "reckoning."

However translated it refers to Heraclitus' vision of the operation of the universe and therefore is not the progenitor of the logos of any other creed, doctrine or religion. The ancient Greek word, which is frequent and also appears in a large number of English words, such as logic, was certainly not a neologism of Heraclitus: he was not "the first" to use it. There is no univocal word, logos, and if there ever was one, its meaning is lost in prehistory.^[47]

The problem with the Heraclitean logos is that his explanation of it did not survive. Whatever it was, "all things come to pass in accordance with this word"^[48] and "the word is common."^[49] It is "the account which governs the universe (ta hola, the whole)."^[50]

Logos appears to be some sort of natural law and yet men must "follow the common (hepesthai tō ksunō)"^[51] and not live having "their own judgement (phonēsis)" implying a voluntary assent, which natural law does not offer. He distinguishes between human laws and divine law (tou theiou "of God").^[52]

He removes the human sense of justice from his concept of God; i.e., man is not the image of God: "To God all things are fair and good and just, but men hold some things wrong and some right."^[53] God's custom has wisdom but man's does not^[54] and yet both man and God are childish: "human opinions are children's toys"^[55] and "Time is a child moving counters in a game; the kingly power is a child's."^[56]

Wisdom is "to know the thought by which all things are steered through all things",^[57] which must not imply that men are or can be wise. Only Zeus is wise.^[58] To some degree then Heraclitus seems to be in the mystic's position of urging men to follow God's plan without much of an idea what that may be. In fact there is a note of despair: "The fairest universe (kallistos kosmos) is but a heap of rubbish (sarma, sweepings) piled up (kechumenon, poured out) at random (eikē)."^[59] This may be a foreshadowing of scientific randomness rather than an internal struggle, but the evidence is too scant to make either presumption. For other uses, see Zeus (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Ancient and Medieval cosmos as depicted in Peter Apians Cosmographia (Antwerp, 1539). ... Random redirects here. ...

Influence

Heraclitus - detail from The School of Athens by Raphael, 1510

Many philosophers have expressed the belief that they were influenced by Heraclitus, whether accurately or not. Some of the more notable ones are mentioned in this section; others will be found in linked articles where they exist. Coincidental resemblances are too numerous for consideration in one article. The School of Athens or in Italian is one of the most famous paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. ... This article is about the Renaissance artist. ...

Plato

In Heraclitus a perceived object is a harmony between two fundamental units of change, a waxing and a waning. He typically uses the ordinary word "to become" (gignesthai or ginesthai, root sense of being born), which led to his being characterized as the philosopher of becoming rather than of being. He recognizes the changing of objects with the flow of time; in fact, this is the view of modern science, which recognizes nothing static and sees a balance between processes everywhere, though not those of Heraclitus.

Plato argues against Heraclitus as follows:^[60] For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ...

How can that be a real thing which is never in the same state? ... for at the moment that the observer approaches, then they become other ... so that you cannot get any further in knowing their nature or state .... but if that which knows and that which is known exist ever ... then I do not think they can resemble a process or flux ....

In Plato one experienced unit is a state, or object existing, which can be observed. The time parameter is set at "ever"; that is, the state is to be presumed present between observations. Change is to be deduced by comparing observations, but no matter how many of those you are able to make, you cannot get through the mysterious gap between them to account for the change that must be occurring there.

Bearden's presentation of a relativistic solution to the change problem (under External links below) distinguishes between space and spacetime, the latter being an aspect of reality mathematically defined by Albert Einstein. An object in spacetime has four dimensions in directions x, y, z, and t, where t is time, containing within its boundaries change, so that it is not deduced but is delivered in experience. To take an observation is to reduce the object to nearly three dimensions; that is, to eliminate the time depth, which is equivalent to saying that Plato's states of existence only appear when you look for them, but even as you ponder the observation, time and change do not stop; reality continues to be delivered in units of spacetime.^[61] This article is about the idea of space. ... For other uses of this term, see Spacetime (disambiguation). ... “Einstein” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Fourth dimension (disambiguation). ... This article is about the concept of time. ... For other uses of this term, see Spacetime (disambiguation). ...

Aristotle

Aristotle brings his logic to bear against Heraclitus in Metaphysics invoking the identity laws:^[62] For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... Aristotelian logic, also known as syllogistic logic, is the particular type of logic created by Aristotle, primarily in his works Prior Analytics and De Interpretatione. ... Metaphysics is one of the principal works of Aristotle and the first major work of the branch of philosophy with the same name. ... The laws of thought are fundamental logical rules, with a long tradition in the history of philosophy, which collectively prescribe how a rational mind must think. ...

... there cannot be an intermediate between contradictories, but of one subject we must either affirm or deny any one predicate.

Bearden describes "one subject" as a snapshot in spacetime. The identity laws apply to simultaneous snapshots of A and B but as soon as they are not simultaneous the change problem occurs. Says Bearden, the laws: For other uses of this term, see Spacetime (disambiguation). ... Philosophers who attempt to describe how an entity changes often refer to what they call the problem of change: how can something stay itself through change. ...

... are monocular, unchanging, 3-dimensional, spatial, non-temporal relational statements. Any statement that is temporal, changing or 4-dimensional will thus appear as a logical paradox to this logical shorthand.

If the "one subject" becomes 4-dimensional, any delimited chunk includes starting and ending snapshots as well as everything in between. If over that time A becomes not-A then both are in the "one subject". As the identity law is only applied subsequent to the experience of A and not-A the two are superimposed in the final snapshot: the object is both A and not-A.

Bearden therefore postulates a conditional identity law: the first three apply if time is not considered but if it is then the dual, or Heraclitean law, applies. Aristotle might have had access to this result if he had applied his theory of act and potency, which asserts that an object is actually what it is sampled to be and is potentially whatever it has been or will be. An object might be therefore actually A and potentially not-A simultaneously. In category theory, an abstract branch of mathematics, the dual of a category C is the category formed by reversing all the morphisms of C. That is, we take Cop to be the category with objects that are those of C, but with the morphisms from X to Y in... The theory of Potentiality and Actuality is one of the central themes of Aristotles philosophy and metaphysics. ...

Stoics

Stoicism is a school of thought comprising many philosophers between the 3rd century BC and about the 6th century AD. Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy, founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early third century BC. It proved to be a popular and durable philosophy, with a following throughout Greece and the Roman Empire from its founding until all the schools of philosophy were ordered closed...

It began among the Greeks and became the major philosophy of the Roman Empire before declining with the rise of Christianity in the 3rd century. For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... Topics in Christianity Preaching Prayer Ecumenism Relation to other religions Movements Music Liturgy Calendar Symbols Art Criticism Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ...

Throughout their long tenure the Stoics believed that the major tenets of their philosophy derived from the thought of Heraclitus.^[63] According to Long, "the importance of Heraclitus to later Stoics is evident most plainly in Marcus Aurelius."^[64] Explicit connections of the earliest Stoics to Heraclitus showing how they arrived at their interpretation are missing but they can be inferred from the Stoic fragments. Long concludes to "modifications of Heraclitus."^[65] Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (called the Wise) (April 26, 121[2] – March 17, 180) was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death in 180. ...

The Stoics were interested in Heraclitus' treatment of fire. In addition to seeing it as the most fundamental of the four elements and the one that is quantified and determines the quantity (logos) of the other three, he presents fire as the cosmos, which was not made by any of the gods or men, but "was and is and ever shall be ever-living fire."^[29] This is the closest he comes to a substance, but it is an active one altering other things quantitatively and performing an activity Heraclitus describes as "the judging and convicting of all things."^[66] It is "the thunderbolt that steers the course of all things."^[67] There is no reason to interpret the judgement, which is actually "to separate" (krinein), as outside of the context of "strife is justice" (see subsection above).

The earliest surviving Stoic work, the Hymn to Zeus of Cleanthes,^[68] though not explicitly referencing Heraclitus, adopts what appears to be the Heraclitean logos modified. Zeus rules the universe with law (nomos) wielding on its behalf the "forked servant", the "fire" of the "ever-living lightening." So far nothing has been said that differs from the Zeus of Homer. But then, says Cleanthes, Zeus uses the fire to "straighten out the common logos" that travels about (phoitan, "to frequent") mixing with the greater and lesser lights (heavenly bodies). This is Heraclitus' logos, but now it is confused with the "common nomos", which Zeus uses to "make the wrong (perissa, left or odd) right (artia, right or even)" and "order (kosmein) the disordered (akosma)."^[69] Cleanthes (c. ... For other uses, see Zeus (disambiguation). ...

In short, the logos has developed from being an impersonal and even random eternal quantitative plan of change associated with the upward-downward way and especially fire taking precedence even over the will of Zeus, who did not create it, to being the instrument and design of God, who is personal, whose children humans and only humans are,^[70] which he uses to bring about order and correct wrong. It remained logically only to affirm unequivocally the identity of God with his logos, which was done in the Gospel of John. For other uses, see Gospel of John (disambiguation). ...

The Stoic modification of Heraclitus' idea of the Logos was also influential on Jewish philosophers such as Philo of Alexandria, who connected it to "Wisdom personified" as God's creative principle. Philo uses the term Logos throughout his treatises on Hebrew Scripture in a manner clearly influenced by the Stoics. In Christology, the conception that the Christ is the Logos (the Greek for word, wisdom, or reason) has been important in establishing the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ and his position as God the Son in the Trinity as set forth in the Chalcedonian Creed. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Philo (20 BC - 50 AD), known also as Philo of Alexandria and as Philo Judaeus And as Yedidia, was a Hellenized Jewish philosopher born in Alexandria, Egypt. ...

Philo (20 BCE - 40 CE) was a leader of the Hellenistic Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt. ...

Church fathers

The church fathers were the leaders of the Christian church during its first five centuries of existence, roughly contemporaneous to stoicism under the Roman Empire. The works of dozens of writers in hundreds of pages have survived. Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers... Topics in Christianity Preaching Prayer Ecumenism Relation to other religions Movements Music Liturgy Calendar Symbols Art Criticism Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ...

All of them had something to say about the Christian form of the logos. From them chiefly the modern world receives its Heraclitean fragments, mainly because the church found it necessary to discriminate between the Christian logos and that of Heraclitus as part of its ideological distancing from paganism. The necessity to convert by defeating paganism was of paramount importance. Hippolytus of Rome therefore identifies Heraclitus along with the other pre-Socratics (and academics) as sources of heresy. Church use of the methods and conclusions of ancient philosophy as such was as yet far in the future, even though many were converted philosophers. This article is about logos (logoi) in ancient Greek philosophy, mathematics, rhetoric, Theophilosophy, and Christianity. ...

In Refutation of All Heresies^[71] Hippolytus says: "What the blasphemous folly is of Noetus, and that he devoted himself to the tenets of Heraclitus the Obscure, not to those of Christ." Hippolytus then goes on to present the inscrutable DK B67: "God (theos) is day and night, winter and summer, ... but he takes various shapes, just as fire, when it is mingled with spices, is named according to the savor of each." The fragment seems to support pantheism if taken literally. Noetus, a presbyter of the church of Asia Minor about AD 230, was a native of Smyrna, where (or perhaps in Ephesus) he became a prominent representative of the particular type of Christology now called modalistic monarchianism or patripassianism. ... Pantheism (Greek: πάν ( pan ) = all and θεός ( theos ) = God) literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent abstract God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ...

Hippolytus condemns the obscurity of it. He cannot accuse Heraclitus of being a heretic so he says instead: "Did not (Heraclitus) the Obscure anticipate Noetus in framing a system ...?" The apparent pantheist deity of Heraclitus (if that is what DK B67 means) must be equal to the union of opposites and therefore must be corporeal and incorporeal, divine and not-divine, dead and alive, etc., and the Trinity can only be reached by some sort of illusory shape-shifting.^[72] This article is about the Christian Trinity. ...

Notes

For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... Cratylus (Κρατυλος) is the name of a dialogue by Plato, dating to ca. ... Bust, traditionally thought to be Seneca, now identified by some as Hesiod. ... Woodcut of Juvenal from the Nuremberg Chronicle Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, Anglicized as Juvenal, was a Roman satiric poet of the late 1st century and early 2nd century. ... Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (French pronounced ) (February 28, 1533–September 13, 1592) was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance. ... In phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies the release of some stop consonants. ... Cratylus (Κρατυλος) is the name of a dialogue by Plato, written in approximately 360 BC. In the dialogue, Socrates is asked by two men, Cratylus and Hermogenes, to advise them whether names are conventional or natural, that is, whether language is a system of arbitrary signs or whether words have an... Cratylus (Κρατυλος) is the name of a dialogue by Plato, written in approximately 360 BC. In the dialogue, Socrates is asked by two men, Cratylus and Hermogenes, to advise them whether names are conventional or natural, that is, whether language is a system of arbitrary signs or whether words have an... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Relativity: The Special and General Theory A principle of relativity is a criterion for judging physical theories, stating that they are inadequate if they do not prescribe the exact same laws of physics in certain similar situations. ... Cratylus (Κρατυλος) is the name of a dialogue by Plato, written in approximately 360 BC. In the dialogue, Socrates is asked by two men, Cratylus and Hermogenes, to advise them whether names are conventional or natural, that is, whether language is a system of arbitrary signs or whether words have an... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Momentum#Momentum_in_relativistic_mechanics. ... 15ft sculpture of Einsteins 1905 E = mc² formula at the 2006 Walk of Ideas, Germany In physics, mass-energy equivalence is the concept that all mass has an energy equivalence, and all energy has a mass equivalence. ...

Bibliography

• Bakalis, Nikolaos (2005). Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics: Analysis and Fragments. Trafford Publishing. pp. 26–45 under Heraclitus. ISBN 1-4120-4843-5. 
• Barnes, Jonathan (1982). The Presocratic Philosophers [Revised Edition]. London & New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 0-415-05079-0. 
• Burnet, John (2003). Early Greek Philosophy. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0-7661-2826-1.  First published in 1892, this book has had dozens of editions and has been used as a textbook for decades. The first edition is downloadable from Google Books.
• Davenport, Guy (translator) (1979). Herakleitos and Diogenes. Bolinas: Grey Fox Press. ISBN 0-912516-36-4.  Complete fragments of Heraclitus in English.
• Heidegger, Martin; Fink, Eugen; Seibert (translator), Charles H. (1993). Heraclitus Seminar. Evanston: Northwestern University Press. ISBN 0-8101-1067-9. . Transcript of seminar in which two German philosophers analyze and discuss Heraclitus' texts.
• Heraclitus; Haxton (translator), Brooks; Hillman (Forward), James (2001). Fragments: The Collected Wisdom of Heraclitus. New York: Viking (The Penguin Group, Penguin Putnam, Inc.). ISBN 0-670-89195-9. . Parallel Greek & English.
• Laertius, Diogenes. Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers in Ten Books.  Book IX, Chapter 1, Heraclitus.
• Lavine, T.Z. (1984). From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest. New York, New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. (Bantam Books). Chapter 2: Shadow and Substance; Section: Plato's Sources: The Pre-SocraticPhilosophers: Heraclitus and Parmenides. ISBN 0-553-25161-9. 
• Pyle, C. M. (1997). 'Democritus and Heracleitus: An Excursus on the Cover of this Book,' Milan and Lombardy in the Renaissance. Essays in Cultural History. Rome, La Fenice. (Istituto di Filologia Moderna, Università di Parma: Testi e Studi, Nuova Serie: Studi 1.) (Fortuna of the Laughing and Weeping Philosophers topos)
• Robinson, T.M. (1987). Heraclitus: Fragments: A Text and Translation with a Commentary. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-6913-4. 
• Taylor, C. C. W (ed.), Routledge History of Philosophy: From the Beginning to Plato, Vol. I, pp. 80 – 117. ISBN 0-203-02721-3 Master e-book ISBN, ISBN 0-203-05752-X (Adobe eReader Format) and ISBN 0-415-06272-1 (Print Edition).
• Wright, M.R. (1985). The Presocratics: The main Fragments in Greek with Inroduction, Commentary and Appendix Containing Text and Translation of Aristotle on the Presocratics. Bristol: Bristol Classical Press. ISBN 0-86292-079-5. 

Jonathan Barnes (born 1942) is a British philosopher, translator and historian of ancient philosophy. ... John Burnet (1863–1928) was a Scottish classicist. ... The cover of Apples and Pears by Guy Davenport Guy Mattison Davenport (November 23, 1927 – January 4, 2005) was an American writer, translator, painter, illustrator, intellectual, and teacher. ... Martin Heidegger (September 26, 1889 – May 26, 1976) (IPA ) was a highly influential German philosopher. ... Eugen Fink (* December 11, 1905 in Konstanz; † July 25, 1975 in Freiburg im Breisgau) was a German philosopher. ... James Hillman (1926- ) is an American psychologist, considered to be one of the most original of the 20th century (Moore, in Hillman, 1989). ... Diogenes Laërtius, the biographer of the Greek philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname from the town of Laerte in Cilicia, and by others from the Roman family of the Laërtii. ... ‎ Democritus (Greek: ) was a pre-Socratic Greek materialist philosopher (born at Abdera in Thrace ca. ... Heraclitus of Ephesus (Ancient Greek - Herákleitos ho Ephésios (Herakleitos the Ephesian)) (about 535 - 475 BC), known as The Obscure (Ancient Greek - ho Skoteinós), was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of Ephesus on the coast of Asia Minor. ... For other uses, see Milan (disambiguation). ... For the village of the same name in Ontario, Canada, see Lombardy, Ontario. ... This article is about the European Renaissance of the 14th-17th centuries. ... Fortuna governs the circle of the four stages of life, the Wheel of Fortune, in a manuscript of Carmina Burana In Roman mythology, Fortuna (equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) goddess of fortune, was the personification of luck, hopefully of good luck, but she could be represented veiled and blind... In mathematics, a topos (plural topoi or toposes) is a type of category that behaves like the category of sheaves of sets on a topological space. ...

See also

The following articles on other topics contain non-trivial information that relates to Heraclitus in some way.

Cratylus (Κρατυλος) is the name of a dialogue by Plato, dating to ca. ... Dialectical monism is an ontological position which holds that reality is ultimately a unified whole, distinguishing itself from plain monism by asserting that this whole necessarily expresses itself in dualistic terms. ... Broadly speaking, a dialectic (Greek: διαλεκτική) is an exchange of propositions (theses) and counter-propositions (antitheses) resulting in a disagreement. ... For other uses, see Dualism (disambiguation). ... Ephesian School sometimes refers to the philosophical thought of the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, who considered that the being of all the universe is fire. ... Ferdinand Lassalle Ferdinand Lassalle (April 11, 1825 — August 31, 1864) was a German jurist and socialist political activist. ... Introduction to Metaphysics (Introduction à la Métaphysique) is a 1903 essay by Henri Bergson that explores the concept of reality. ... The Ionian School (occasionally known as the Milesian School), a type of Greek philosophy centred in Miletus, Ionia in the 6th and 5th centuries B.C., is something of a misnomer. ... This article is about logos (logoi) in ancient Greek philosophy, mathematics, rhetoric, Theophilosophy, and Christianity. ... The philosopher Marcel Conche writes in French. ... Metaphysics is one of the principal works of Aristotle and the first major work of the branch of philosophy with the same name. ... Nondualism implies that things appear distinct while not being separate. ... In philosophy, ontology (from the Greek , genitive : of being (part. ... Pantheism (Greek: πάν ( pan ) = all and θεός ( theos ) = God) literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent abstract God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ... Panentheism (from Greek (pân) all; (en) in; and (Theós) god; all-in-God) is the theological position that God is immanent within the Universe, but also transcends it. ... Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks (Philosophie im tragischen Zeitalter der Griechen) is a publication of an incomplete book by Friedrich Nietzsche. ... Philosophy of space and time is the branch of philosophy concerned with the issues surrounding the ontology, epistemology, and character of space and time. ... Process philosophy identifies metaphysical reality with change and dynamism. ... The Tao Te Ching (道德經, Pinyin: D Jīng, thus sometimes rendered in recent works as Dao De Jing; archaic pre-Wade-Giles rendering: Tao Teh Ching; roughly translated as The Book of the Way and its Virtue (see dedicated chapter below on translating the title)) is an ancient Chinese scripture... Philosophical topics      Unity of opposites is the central category of dialectics, and it is viewed sometimes as a metaphysical concept, a philosophical concept or a scientific concept. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Heraclitus

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Fragments_of_Heraclitus

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Heraclitus

The links below are to collections of fragments of the writings of Heraclitus in a number of languages, mainly ancient Greek and English. Included also are interpretive essays. No standard or uniform presentation of Heraclitus exists. Translations and interpretations as well as quality vary widely, but these limitations may always have been true. Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ... The original Wikisource logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...

• Bearden, Thomas E. (2002). "Appendix III: A conditional Criterion for Identity, Leading to a Fourth Law of Logic". Aids: Biological Warfare. Cheniere Press. ISBN 0972514651. . A modern physicist looks at the problem of change as expressed by the law of identity of Aristotle and the flux of Heraclitus and formulates a relativistic solution. A basic knowledge of Symbolic logic and the concept of spacetime is required but advanced mathematics is not necessary.
• Elpenor. "Heraclitus: The Word is Common" (html). The Greek Word: Three Millenia of Greek Literature. Elpenor. http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/herakleitus-word.asp. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.  Heraclitus bilingual anthology from DK in Greek and English, side by side, the translations being provided by the organization, Elpenor.
• Graham, Daniel W. (2006). "Heraclitus" (html). The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The editors. http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/h/heraclit.htm. Retrieved on 2007-10-09. 
• Harris, William, translator (1994). "Heraclitus: The Complete Fragments: Translation and Commentary and The Greek Text" (pdf). Humanities and the Liberal Arts: Greek Language and Literature: Text and Commentary. Middlebury College. http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/Philosophy/heraclitus.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.  Greek and English with DK numbers and commentary.
• "Heraclitus the Obscure: The Father of the Doctrine of Flux and the Unity of Opposites" (html). Archimedes' Laboratory. http://www.archimedes-lab.org/heraclitus_aphorism.html. Retrieved on 2007-11-09.  Text and selected aphorisms in Greek, English, Italian and French.
• Hooker, Richard (1996). "Heraclitus" (html). World Civilizations: An Internet Classroom and Anthology: Greek Philosophy. Washington State University. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/HERAC.HTM. Retrieved on 2007-10-11.  Selected fragments translated by Hooker.
• Hoyt, Randy (2002). "The Fragments of Heraclitus" (html). http://www.heraclitusfragments.com/. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.  The fragments also cited in DK in Greek (Unicode) with the English translations of John Burnet (see Bibliography).
• Knierim, Thomas (2007). "Heraclitus:[Ephesus, around 500 BC]" (html). thebigview.com. http://www.thebigview.com/greeks/heraclitus.html.  Essay on the flux and fire philosophy of Heraclitus.
• Lancereau, M. Daniel; M. Samuel Béreau (2007). "Heraclitus" (html/pdf). Philoctetes: ΦΙΛΟΚΤΗΤΗΣ. http://philoctetes.free.fr/heraclitus.htm. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.  Site with links to pdf's containing the fragments of DK in Greek (Unicode) with the English translations of John Burnet (see Bibliography) and translations into French, either in parallel columns or interlinear, with links on the lexical items to Perseus dictionaries. Includes also Heraclitus article from Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition.
• Stamatellos, Giannis. "Heraclitus of Ephesus: Life and Work" (html). http://www.philosophy.gr/presocratics/heraclitus.htm. Retrieved on 2007-10-12. 
• Trix. "Heraclitus' Epistemological Views" (html). sym•pos•i•a: σψμποσια: the online philosophy journal. http://journal.ilovephilosophy.com/Article/Heraclitus--Epistemological-Views/29. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. 
• Osho. "Osho discourse on Heraclitus,The Hidden Harmony". http://files.osho-buddha.webnode.cz/200000632-d209fd3fdb/The%20Hidden%20Harmony.pdf. 

Arguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, and others. ... The Argument from Beauty is an argument for the existence of God, as against materialism // Its logical structure is essentially as follows: There are compelling reasons for considering beauty to exist in a way which transcends its material manifestations. ... The Christological argument for the existence of God is a relatively modern argument. ... The Argument from Consciousness is an argument for the existence of God against naturalism. ... The cosmological argument is an argument for the existence of God or a First Cause. It is traditionally known as an argument from universal causation, an argument from first cause, the causal argument, and also as an uncaused cause or unmoved mover argument. ... The argument from degrees or the degrees of perfection argument is an argument for the existence of God first proposed by Thomas Aquinas as one of the five ways to prove God in his Summa Theologica. ... The Argument from Desire is an argument for the existence of God. ... The Argument from religious experience is an argument for the existence of God, as against materialism. ... The Argument from love is an argument for the existence of God, as against materialism. ... The Argument from Miracles is an argument for the existence of God relying on eyewitness testimony of impossible (or extremely improbable events) to establish the active intervention of a supernatural supreme being (or supernatural agents acting on behalf of that being). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... An ontological argument for the existence of God is one that attempts the method of a priori proof, which utilizes intuition and reason alone. ... Pascals Wager (or Pascals Gambit) is the application by the French philosopher Blaise Pascal of decision theory to the belief in God. ... The introduction of this article does not provide enough context for readers unfamiliar with the subject. ... A teleological argument, or argument from design, is an argument for the existence of God or a creator based on perceived evidence of order, purpose, design and/or direction in nature. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This page has been linked from the Arguments for the existence of God page. ... The Ultimate Boeing 747 argument has been known to go straight over peoples heads The Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit is an argument for the improbability of the existence of God introduced by Richard Dawkins in chapter 4 Why there almost certainly is no God of his book The God... An editor has expressed a concern that the subject of the article does not satisfy the notability guideline or one of the following guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia: Biographies, Books, Companies, Fiction, Music, Neologisms, Numbers, Web content, or several proposals for new guidelines. ... In the philosophy of religion and theology, the problem of evil is the problem of reconciling the existence of evil or suffering in the world with the existence of a god. ... The argument from free will is an argument against the Existence of God which contends that omniscience and free will are incompatible, and that any conception of God which incorporates both properties is therefore inherently contradictory. ... The problem of Hell is a variant of the problem of evil, applying specifically to religions which hold both that: An omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnibenevolent (all-loving) God exists. ... The Argument from Inconsistent Revelations, also known as the Avoiding the Wrong Hell Problem, is an argument against the existence of God. ... The argument from nonbelief, also known as the argument from divine hiddenness, is a recently-developed argument against the existence of God. ... Theological noncognitivism is the argument that religious language, and specifically words like God (capitalized), are not cognitively meaningful. ... For the House television show episode, see Occams Razor (House episode). ... Listen to this article ( info/dl) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2007-09-04, and may not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... The argument from poor design or dysteleological argument is an argument against the existence of God, specifically against the existence of a creator God (in the sense of a God that directly created all species of life). ... Russells teapot, sometimes called the Celestial Teapot, was an analogy first coined by the philosopher Bertrand Russell, intended to refute the idea that the burden of proof lies upon the sceptic to disprove unfalsifiable claims of religions. ... The Transcendental Argument for the Non-existence of God (also called TANG) was first explicitly formulated by Michael Martin in a 1996 article in New Zealand Rationalist & Humanist [1]. It was first intended as a reply to the Transcendental argument for the existence of God, which argues that logic, science...