Heraclitus . Greek materialist philosopher and dialectic. [1] Born in Ephesus , Asia Minor , of aristocratic lineage. His work “De la Naturaleza ”, of which only fragments have been rescued, was famous in classical antiquity for the depth of its thought and for the enigmatic nature of its exposition (hence it was called “the Dark One”).
Summary
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- 1 Biographical synthesis
- 1 Death
- 2 Main theories
- 3 References
- 4 Sources
Biographical synthesis
A native of Ephesus, he was born around 535 BC. C. in the bosom of a family of royal lineage, where the office of officiating priest of Demeter Eleusina was hereditary, and for that reason linked to those Mysteries.
His severe, independent, scathing and taciturn character, equally opposed to the tyranny and the demagogues of the recently launched democracy, caused him to retire early from the world to dedicate himself alone to the cultivation of thought.
He composed a book of aphorisms, which he deposited in the great temple of Artemis Ephesia. The oracular, laconic and metaphorically inclined tone of these reflections will elicit a famous comment in Socrates :
«What I have understood is elevated, and elevated also seems what I did not understand. But to figure it out, you would have to be a Delos diver.
Death
He died around 484 BC. C .. He was a native of Ephesus, a city in Ionia, on the west coast of Asia Minor.
Main theories
Ruins of the Theater of Ephesus
According to Heraclitus, the first substance of nature is fire , the most susceptible to change and the most mobile. From fire come the whole world, singular things and even the soul. “This world, which is the same for everyone, has not been created by any of the gods or men, but has always been, is and will be eternally living fire, which ignites with measure and goes out with measure. Lenin observed that this aphorism constitutes “an excellent exposition of the principles of dialectical materialism .”
All things arise from fire by virtue of a necessity that Heraclitus calls “logos.” The universal process is cyclical: after the “great year”, all things become “fire” again.
The life of nature is an incessant process of movement. In this process, everything and every property is transformed into its opposite: what is cold becomes hot; hot cold. As everything, by incessantly changing, is renewed, it is not possible to enter the same river twice: new waters bathe those who enter it a second time.
In human life, this shift from everything to its opposite is not a simple change but a struggle. Such a struggle is universal, “the father and king of all things.” In the fight of opposites, however, its identity is manifested: the same thing is the way up and the way down, life and death.
The universality of the change and of the passage of each property to its opposite make all the qualities relative. At the base of knowledge are sensations. If something were concealed from the light perceptible by the senses, it could not escape the light of reason.
Heraclitus contrasts his conception of the world with the conception of the world that most of his contemporaries and fellow citizens have.
Heraclitus’ aristocratic ideas about society are found in him combined with some progressive features: Heraclitus manifests himself against the traditional customary law defended by the aristocrats, to which he opposes the law promulgated by the State , law by which men must fight as for the walls of your hometown.
This remarkable philosopher, who flourished in Ephesus in the 500s before Christianity, belongs to the Ionian school because of his homeland and because of the background of his doctrine; but he sowed in her germs that his successors developed, and new and superior thoughts to those that until then had dominated in this school.