“Heraclitus of Ephesus. Fragments. Brief biography of Heraclitus

Introduction

CHAPTER I. BIOGRAPHY OF HERACLITUS

1.1 Life of Heraclitus

1.2 Personality of Heraclitus

CHAPTER II. PHILOSOPHICAL TEACHING OF HERACLITUS

2.1 Fire and logos in the teachings of Heraclitus

2.2 Ideas about universal movement and opposites

2.3 Epistemology of Heraclitus

CHAPTER III. INFLUENCE OF THE TEACHINGS OF HERACLITUS

3.1 Impact on ancient philosophers

3.2 Lassalle's monograph

Conclusion

List of used literature

Applications

Introduction

The period of the birth of philosophy in Europe is considered to be the V-IV centuries BC. It is from this time period that the earliest fragments of the works of ancient Greek philosophers that have reached us date back.

The most famous among the philosophers of that time were Xenophanes and Melissus, representatives of the Eleatic school; Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes, as representatives of the Milesian school; Protagoras and Gorgias are sophists; Leucippus and Democritus, founders of atomism.

Standing apart from them is Heraclitus, a philosopher whose ideas sharply, and sometimes radically, differ from the teachings of all other schools. However, this person plays an equally important role in the formation of the first philosophical views.

The relevance of works in the field of ancient Greek philosophy is inexhaustible. Many views of philosophers find new, original interpretations among modern scientists and researchers. Therefore, we can say with confidence that the potential of works, even those written more than two thousand years ago, has not yet been fully revealed.

When writing the work we used various sources information.

We found information about the biography of Heraclitus in the book by V.F. Asmus " Ancient philosophy" Information about the essence of the teachings of Heraclitus is sufficiently disclosed in the books of A.N. Chanyshev “Lecture course on ancient philosophy" In analyzing the influence of the teachings of Heraclitus on other philosophers, we were helped primarily by Bertrand Russell’s book “The History of Western Philosophy and Its Connections with Political and social conditions from antiquity to the present day." The best guide, which revealed to us the thought of Heraclitus in the original, was a book prepared by A.V. Lebedev “Fragments of early Greek philosophers. Part I. From epic theocosmogonies to the emergence of atomism.”

Purpose of the work: to explore the teachings of Heraclitus.

Job objectives:

Study the biography of Heraclitus.

Find out the main points and specifics of the teachings of Heraclitus.

Establish the influence of the teachings of Heraclitus on subsequent philosophers.

CHAPTER I. BIOGRAPHY OF HERACLITUS

1.1 Life of Heraclitus

Heraclitus (c. 544-483 BC) is an ancient Greek philosopher known as the founder of dialectics. According to numerous sources, he was born in the polis of Ephesus and belonged to the family of the city’s founders, the Basileus, which attributed to him royal and priestly social status. However, Heraclitus voluntarily renounced the privileges associated with origin in favor of his brother, which, according to scientists, is a consequence of his protest against the democracy that reigned in Ephesus.

Heraclitus held an extremely negative opinion about urban order, and treated his fellow citizens and people in general with contempt, believing that they themselves were not aware of what they were doing and what they were saying. According to biographers, at one time he lived at the temple, like many philosophers of that time, but did not perform any priestly duties. According to Diogenes Laertius, “hating people, he withdrew and began to live in the mountains, feeding on pasture and herbs.”

According to some reports, Heraclitus “ordered to cover himself with manure and, lying there, died.” According to Marcus Aurelius, he died of dropsy and smeared himself with manure as a remedy for the disease.

From all of the above, we can conclude that Heraclitus lived a very unusual life for philosophers of that time, which affected the themes and content of his teaching.

2 Personality of Heraclitus

Heraclitus, according to the testimony of his contemporaries, was a very extraordinary person. According to many sources, he was unsociable and despised any society, and also had specific, pessimistic views, for which his contemporaries gave Heraclitus the nickname “Scutinos”, i.e. "Dark", "Gloomy".

The main source of data about the philosophical teachings of Heraclitus is his only work - “On Nature”. It was quoted many times by ancient Greek philosophers such as Socrates and Aristotle, thanks to which it has been preserved in a more complete form than similar works by Anaximenes and Anaximander. The topic of the essay was broader than that of other philosophers of that time: it included reflections on the topics of the Universe, politics, government and God. In addition, the book was written in a semi-mythological style, which was not typical for the authors of that time.

Many biographers report that Heraclitus did not belong to any school, nor did he have any students, but was familiar with the works of Xenophanes, Hecataeus, Pythagoras and the teachings of the Milesian philosophers. His views are closely intertwined with the views of the philosophers of the Milesian school (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes). However, the teaching of Heraclitus cannot be considered part of the Milesian school, since it contradicts it in many key points.

Thus, Heraclitus had unique and interesting philosophical views, which in many ways surpassed in depth the thoughts of his contemporaries.

CHAPTER II. PHILOSOPHICAL TEACHING OF HERACLITUS

2.1 Fire and logos in the teachings of Heraclitus

One of key points the teachings of Heraclitus is fire. This element was chosen by the philosopher as a substantial-genetic principle. Philosophers of other schools chose more stable elements as their starting point: the water of Thales, the earth of Pharecydes, the air of Anaximenes. Heraclitus himself explained his choice by the fact that this substance is the most mobile and unstable, therefore all other substances turn into fire by “cooling” or “slowing down.” He called this process “the way down”, i.e. way from the more perfect, general, to the lower, particular.

Heraclitus compared fire with gold: “Everything is exchanged for fire, and fire for everything, just as gold is exchanged for goods, and goods are exchanged for gold” (B 90). Thus, in the philosophical sociomorphic worldview, commodity-money relations were refracted, the development of which, as already noted, had a significant impact on the transformation mythological worldview into the philosophical. In another comparison, cosmic fire is compared with the flame on which various incense is burned. The flame is still the same, but the smells are different. Heraclitus's fire is eternal and divine.

The mutual transformations of fire, air, water and earth have reached our time in three versions. Clement believed that the sea (water) arises from fire; the sea, in turn, is the “seed of world formation.” From this seed arise the earth, the sky, and everything that is between them. According to Plutarch, fire turns into air, air into water, water into earth, earth into fire. The cosmogony of Heraclitus is not quite presented this way in Marcus Aurelius (2nd century AD). There Heraclitus says: “The death of earth is the birth of water, the death of water is the birth of air, and air is the birth of fire: and vice versa” (B 76).

Heraclitus closely combined the concept of “soul” with the concept of fire. This is one of its forms, metamorphoses. According to his views, souls arise by “evaporating from moisture” (B 12), and vice versa, “death to souls - birth to water” (B 36). However, not every soul is wet, only a bad soul is wet. The soul is a unity of opposites, it combines the moist and the fiery, and the more fire there is in it, the better the soul. According to the beliefs of Heraclitus, “the dry soul is the wisest and best” (B 118). Heraclitus emphasizes that “every passion is bought at the price of the soul” (B 85). He says that “for souls it is pleasure or death to become wet” (B 77).

One of the significant differences between Heraclitus's idea of ​​​​the presence of the primary element is the idea that the primary element was not created by any of the gods or people. He was there from the beginning, he was everywhere, and only from him did both gods and people subsequently emerge.

Another thought of Heraclitus is the idea of ​​periodic repetition of cycles of “excess” of fire. By this cycle, Heraclitus means the end of the world, a world fire. This fire burns everything: both matter and souls, because everything has a beginning from fire. After this, the fire “cools down” again and comes to the state of air, water and earth.

In the history of philosophy, the greatest controversy was caused by the teaching of Heraclitus about Logos. Logos is a certain control system, which was interpreted as “god”, “fate”, “necessity”, “eternity”, “wisdom”, “general”, “law”. The ambiguity of the term “Logos”, the understanding of which in the fragments of Heraclitus is complicated by the diversity and uncertainty of the content invested in it, inevitably forces us to consider this term in the context of its basic ideas. In line with the doctrine of Logos, Heraclitus’s destiny, necessity and reason coincide. His views are most accurately described by the words found in the work of Sextus: “Although this logos exists forever, people do not understand it either before they hear about it, or when they hear it for the first time. After all, everything is done according to this logos, and they become like the ignorant when they approach such words and such deeds as I present, dividing each by nature and explaining in essence. What they do while awake is hidden from other people, just as they forget their dreams” (B 1).

Thus, Heraclitus accepted fire as the primary source of all things. All matter, in his opinion, comes from fire and goes into it. Another significant concept in the teachings of Heraclitus is Logos. Logos is seen as some kind of higher power or universal law.

2 Ideas about universal movement and opposites

Heraclitus in his work puts forward the idea that time and life are in constant motion, which he compares to the flow of a river, which you can enter twice, but the waters washing the body will be different. However, his thoughts about universal variability find another interpretation among modern scientists: the same thing is never repeated, but it does not disappear anywhere, but only turns into something different. The intermediate link between “one” and “another” is always fire. Fire perfectly matched his views on life, because it is the most unstable of the elements, which “devours” matter before our eyes, which people have seen for centuries, looking at fires.

In his doctrine of constant change, Heraclitus put forward the idea that the same thing can be opposite when viewed in different ways, and the opposites reveal the value of each other. So, we can remember that “ sea ​​water both the purest and the dirtiest: for fish it is drink and salvation, but for people it is death and poison" (B 61), and "illness makes sweet and good health, hunger - satiety, fatigue - rest” (B 111). Also, Heraclitus noticed that the greatest changes, and therefore the most vivid manifestations of life, are cardinal, because cold, turning into hot, changes completely. From these observations he draws a conclusion, which later became one of his doctrines: opposites are essentially identical. This statement seems to us to be insufficiently substantiated, because it contradicts Heraclitus’s thought about harmony as a consequence of the universal struggle: “The warring converges, from the divergent is the most beautiful harmony, and everything arises from discord.”

This harmony cannot be seen by man. This, according to Heraclitus, is its highest power. All this universal harmony is accessible only to God. This deepest harmony is inherent in the entire universe, despite the fact that everything there is seething with struggle and discord. All evil dissolves in this harmony.

Heraclitus does not fully reveal what is considered evil and what is good, but he points out the close relationship between these two concepts. This can be confirmed by Hippolytus’ conclusion that “both good and evil are one and the same” (B 58). The relationship between good and evil can be seen more closely in another fragment: “The path of the roller is straight and crooked - the same.” One of the interpretations of this quote: “good and evil, although different, always go side by side.”

Based on all of the above, it can be argued that Heraclitus’ idea of ​​variability was in good agreement with his teaching about fire as a universal principle. The identity of opposites, as a doctrine, does not find sufficient justification.

3 Epistemology of Heraclitus

Many fragments of Heraclitus have been preserved that deal with knowledge. He distinguished between knowledge through the senses and knowledge through thought. Both methods of cognition are necessary, but Heraclitus put cognition by thinking in first place, as evidenced by numerous fragments in which logos is discussed.

Understanding logos is not easy. First of all, this can be associated with the fact that the nature of knowledge itself is such that it is impossible for a person to fully comprehend the Logos: it is so boundless and vast. Therefore, “despite the fact that the logos exists eternally, people turn out to be slow-witted before they hear it, and (even) after hearing it for the first time.” (B 1).

The multiplicity of knowledge inherent in “Hesiod and Pythagoras” also does not bring a person closer to the knowledge of logos. It gives only scattered knowledge about nature, but does not give the whole picture of the structure of the universe, does not give wisdom. Heraclitus places such wisdom separately from knowledge, on a more elevated place, as the fragment can speak of: “Of those whose teachings I have heard, no one has come to admit that what is wise is different from everything else” (B 108).

Heraclitus also believes that thinking is common to every person. However, not everyone is successful in this matter. This is due to the fact that most people are consumed by a thirst for pleasure, a thirst for wealth. However, just as “donkeys prefer straw to gold” (B 9), so people, striving for “mortal things”, miss what really makes sense in life - Logos.

Also in the fragments of Heraclitus one can catch the idea that the nature of all things is one. This is consistent with his doctrine of the identity of opposites. However, Heraclitus has more justification for the first conclusion - these are, first of all, fragments B 10 (“Compounds are of everything and not everything, similar and different, consonant and discordant; from everything - one and from one - everything”), B 32 ( “The One, the only wise one, does not want and wants to be called by the name of Zeus”) and B 50 (“Not to me, but to the logos, listening wisely, agree that everything is one”), in which the idea is traced that knowledge is scraps of the whole Truth , which also appears in his teaching.

Thus, Heraclitus believed that the main source of knowledge is thinking, and the secondary source is feelings. Thinking, in his opinion, is not achieved through knowledge. Thinking is given to everyone, but not everyone can use it. It is thinking that leads a person to the correct conclusion about the unity of all knowledge.

CHAPTER III. INFLUENCE OF THE TEACHINGS OF HERACLITUS

3.1 Influence on ancient philosophers

The teachings of Heraclitus influenced many philosophers of antiquity. First of all, this is Plato.

Plato was not a contemporary of Heraclitus; these two very similar people are separated by about half a century. However, Plato was a student of another ancient Greek philosopher - Cratylus. He, in turn, knew very well the teachings of Heraclitus, in particular, Cratylus was an adherent of the idea of ​​​​universal variability, but his ideas were more radical. It was through Cratylus that Plato learned about this aspect of the teachings of Heraclitus, and further developed it.

Some authors see the origins of the relativism of truth, one of the key dogmas of the sophist philosophers, in Heraclitus’s idea of ​​universal relativity. This opinion is controversial. Of course, it is impossible to deny the similarity between the teachings of Heraclitus and some of Protagoras’s thoughts on the relativity of truth to conditions. However, a more detailed examination of the teachings of Protagoras reveals that the relativistic views of Protagoras and Heraclitus coincided only indirectly.

Heraclitus's views on space, Logos and fire found fertile ground in Stoicism, the founder of which was the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Citium. Thus, one of the important components of Stoic teaching is the idea that all matter is “burned up”, “purified” by the fire of the divine law.

Thus, the teachings of Heraclitus had a significant influence on the views of many ancient Greek philosophers, who later developed and adapted the ideas of Heraclitus for their own schools.

3.2 Lassalle's monograph

One of the most unusual interpretations of the works of Heraclitus in modern times is Lassalle's monograph. This book was published in 1858 by the famous German philosopher, lawyer and politician Ferdinand Lassalle under the title “Die Philosophie Herakleitos des Dunkeln v. Ephesos."

The main tendency of this monograph was that Lassalle tried to turn Heraclitus into "Hegel ancient world", bring the principles of dialectics and materialism of Heraclitus under the teachings of idealistic dialectics of Hegel. This desire of Lassalle was erroneous, firstly, because Lassalle wanted to turn a naive materialist like Heraclitus into an idealist; secondly, because, bringing the dialectics of Heraclitus closer to the dialectics of Hegel, Lassalle was looking in the distant past for such features of dialectics that could not yet arise in this past.

Lassalle's book on Heraclitus was studied by Marx, Engels and Lenin. All of them, with complete unanimity, noted its major shortcomings and erroneous views. Lenin noted that Lassalle brings Heraclitus closer to Hegel, “downright drowning Heraclitus in Hegel” (3, vol. 29, p. 308). He finds in Lassalle “a slavish repetition of Hegel regarding Heraclitus!” (3, vol. 29, p. 306).

A diligent student performs it “brilliantly,” re-reading everything about Heraclitus from all the ancient (and modern) writers and interpreting everything according to Hegel.”

As a result, as Lenin concludes, the impression is that the idealist Lassalle left the materialism or materialist tendencies of Heraclitus in the shadow, adapting it to Hegel.

To summarize, we can say that the image of Heraclitus was used in modern times to strengthen the labor movement, but the incorrect, perverse interpretation of Heraclitus soon found fair criticism.

Conclusion

philosopher Heraclitus fire logos

It seems possible to us to consider that the teachings of Heraclitus were fully revealed in our work. In the process of work, various points of view on his teaching were carefully examined. Some political aspects of the biography of Heraclitus were considered. We found out that Heraclitus was one of the most unusual people that era, which influenced his views. Thanks to this, the teaching of Heraclitus is unique and profound. philosophical thought. In particular, Heraclitus accepted fire as the primary source of all things. All matter, in his opinion, comes from fire and goes into it. Also, thanks to Heraclitus, the term “logos” was introduced into philosophy, which is considered as a kind of divine law and is usually associated with the cosmos. In addition to all this, Heraclitus introduced the first concept of universal, constant variability and relativism - relativity. Heraclitus considered thinking to be the main source of knowledge, and feelings to be a secondary source. His views on thinking itself as a process inherent in all people are also of interest. It leads a person to the correct conclusion about the unity of all knowledge, and much knowledge, but in the opinion of Heraclitus, does not bring a person closer to wisdom. The teachings of Heraclitus had a significant influence on the views of many ancient Greek philosophers from different schools and different directions, and also affected the views of philosophers of other eras. Also, one of the attempts to incorrectly modern interpretation thoughts of Heraclitus. This attempt failed, meeting criticism from such prominent philosophers as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

List of used literature

Tatarkevich V. History of philosophy. Ancient and medieval philosophy / Tatarkevich V. - Perm: Perm University Publishing House, 2000.

Russell B. History of Western Philosophy. In 3 books: 3rd ed., revised. / Prepare text by V.V. Tselishchev. - Novosibirsk: Sib. Univ. publishing house; Publishing house Novosib. University, 2001.

Chanyshev A.N. Course of lectures on ancient philosophy: Proc. manual for philosophers fak. and departments of universities / Chanyshev A.N. - M.: Higher. school, 1981.

Vadim Serov. Encyclopedic Dictionary winged words and expressions

Fragments of early Greek philosophers. Part I. From epic theocosmogonies to the emergence of atomism / Prep. A.V. Lebedev. - M.: Nauka, 1989.

History of philosophy: West - Russia - East: Textbook for universities. Book 1: Philosophy of antiquity and the Middle Ages / Ed. N.V. Motroshilova. - M.: “Greco-Latin Cabinet” by Yu. A. Shichalin, 1995.

Appendix 1

Heraclitus. Johann Morelse. Around 1630.

Appendix 2

Heraclitus of Ephesus. Engraving. Beginning of the 19th century

Tutoring

Need help studying a topic?

Our specialists will advise or provide tutoring services on topics that interest you.
Submit your application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.

Years of life: about 540 BC – 483 BC

Greek philosopher, creator of historical dialectics (the doctrine of eternal formation and variability of being). We know about the life of Heraclitus mainly from the words of his biographer Diogenes. And about philosophy - from the words of the philologist Hermann Diels, who retold the only book of Heraclitus “On Nature”, which includes 125 statements on different topics. The original book is lost.

Heraclitus was born in Ephesus, a Greek city located in modern-day Turkey. He was the heir ruling family Even as a child, Androcles was no different from other children: he spent a lot of time outside, playing with friends. Most likely, he studied a lot, like all descendants of noble families. But the boy grew up and everything changed.

Heraclitus turned into a young man dissatisfied with life, who was not attracted by either power or social activities. And simple communication with people was a burden. He renounced the title in favor of his brother and retired to the temple of Artemis, where he indulged in meditation in ascetic conditions, eating herbs. Why did he do this? Some historians argue that this was an act of protest: he hated democracy, considering it an unjust form of government. In early writings, Diogenes wrote that Heraclitus's refusal of power was a gesture of generosity, and in later works that it was a manifestation of arrogance. One way or another, Heraclitus became a hermit; he had neither a wife nor children. At first he went out to play dice with the yard boys, but he sank more and more into misanthropy and eventually hated the whole world.

Heraclitus in a painting by the Dutch artist Morels

Heraclitus considered everyone to be uneducated fools for whom no education would help. “Knowing a lot does not teach intelligence,” he told people with contempt. They reciprocated: Heraclitus was beaten with sticks at poetry competitions. He had neither teachers nor students.

The philosophical teachings of Heraclitus were contradictory and gloomy, like his life. While speaking in front of people, he cried. His contemporaries called him that: Heraclitus the Dark or Heraclitus the Gloomy. He sang of war and death: “War is the father of all, the king of all: it declares some gods, others people, some it creates slaves, others free.” Heraclitus is often contrasted with another sage - the positive Democritus, who loved to laugh during his speeches.

He did not take part in lawmaking and polemics because he believed that unworthy people were in power. He believed that aristocrats should be in power. He called democracy the rule of the crowd, which is like cattle filling their bellies.

Heraclitus is sometimes called a philosopher-poet - his thoughts are metaphorical, there are many riddles in them. He wrote simply about complex things, but few could understand the true meaning of his statements. Socrates admitted that he was able to unravel only some of Heraclitus’s ideas, and admired them.

Heraclitus introduced into philosophy the concept of “logos” - the meaning and laws of existence. According to the philosopher, universal harmony is a cosmic logos that remains unchanged over time. However, people are not able to realize this. They believe that their logo is more important than the universal.

The gloomy philosopher argued that the world is constantly changing and transforming, and called this process the global flow. Every matter and substance has an opposite. For example, the human soul consists of two components: noble (fire) and ignoble (water). Heraclitus first introduced the concept of the atom. According to the philosopher, both the body and soul of a person consist of atoms.

The death of Heraclitus is as dark, incomprehensible and mysterious as his life and philosophy. According to one version, he fell ill with dropsy and decided to treat the disease with manure, but the remedy did not help. That's how he was found dead in a pile of excrement. According to another version, there was no dropsy, and the philosopher was killed by wild dogs.

Little is known about the birth and early years Heraclitus. It is only known that he was born into an aristocratic family in Ephesus (now the territory of Turkey). His father's name was either Bloson or Herakon.

As a child, Heraclitus played dibs with other children in the castle, and considered the opportunity to take the throne a heavy burden. He subsequently renounced the throne in favor of his brother. All information about the life of Heraclitus is known thanks to Diogenes Laertius, who was the biographer of many Greek philosophers. Diogenes wrote that Heraclitus was a student of the school of Xenophanes, although Heraclitus himself claimed that he was self-taught.

Later years

Thanks to the study of his works, it is believed that Heraclitus lived and worked at the end of the 6th century BC. Heraclitus strongly criticized Homer, Hesiod, Pythagoras and Xenophanes, who lived in the 6th century BC. or earlier, which led to the conclusion that he lived later - at the end of the 6th century BC.

Since childhood, Heraclitus disliked humanity, considering most people narrow-minded and uneducated. It is believed that he did not participate in philosophical gatherings and abandoned traditions, instead offering views on certain issues.

He was dominated by extremist views, which he expressed in ambiguous phrases. His works are considered mysteries, since there is large number their interpretations.

There are no collections of his works, but only scraps of work and individual sentences quoted by other people.

Heraclitus had an unconventional view of the concept of the word wisdom, and filled his works with a large number complexities and mysteries containing hidden hints. And a fuller understanding of his work depended on the ability of readers to comprehend what he wrote. He took a unique approach to his teaching - example situations were full of simple objects such as rivers, boats, roads, etc. so that his readers could think and come to their own conclusions.

Heraclitus made a very important contribution to the development of the concept of “logos”. The word logos itself has many meanings, and in philosophy it is a term for principles of order and knowledge.

He believed in the flow of the world and for him this meant that everything in the world is constantly changing and has its opposites. The following aphorism serves as an example of this: “The road forward and the road back are one and the same road.”

Heraclitus considered fire to be the most basic element, believing that all other elements came from fire and that is why fire gave rise to everything else. He also believed that the human soul consists of water and fire, where fire is the noble part and water is the ignoble part.

Some scientists believe that he was a natural scientist, while others believe that he was a philosopher concerned with questions of human nature.

Heraclitus himself believed that nature and human nature are closely related. And he could even be considered a humanist if not for his deep aversion to people.

Heraclitus was a loner, so he had no students. However, many of his works influenced philosophers of both his time and some modern ones, such as Plato and Hegel.

The Stoics, people who understood philosophy as a way of life, took many of their basic principles from the teachings of Heraclitus, especially his attitude to fire.

Main works

Heraclitus wrote a treatise "On Nature", which was divided into three parts - on nature, on politics and on the universe. The book of the treatise was kept in the Artemia Castle - a library of ancient times. The book became very popular and many future philosophers referred to it in their works.

Personal life and legacy

Heraclitus was a loner and had no disciples. He suffered from bouts of melancholy. IN recent years throughout his life he suffered from dropsy. Desperate because doctors were unable to find a cure for him, he tried to treat himself with cow dung, from which he later died.

Heraclitus was nicknamed "The Dark One".

Heraclitus of Ephesus- ancient Greek philosopher, who is credited with creating the first historical dialectic; he is considered the author famous phrase“Everything flows, everything changes.” There is very little reliable information in the biography of Heraclitus. It is known that his homeland is the city of Ephesus ( Asia Minor). During the 69th Olympiad (504-501 BC), the philosopher was a mature man, in the prime of his life, on the basis of which researchers assumed that he was born around 540 BC. e.

Heraclitus was a descendant of an ancient aristocratic family; his ancestor Androcles founded Ephesus. By inheritance, Heraclitus received the rank of priest in the temple of Artemis of Ephesus. But he refused the honors due to his origin; moreover, he completely withdrew from lawmaking and participation in public life cities. Heraclitus held an extremely negative opinion about urban order, and treated his fellow citizens and people in general with contempt, believing that they themselves were not aware of what they were doing and what they were saying. He was especially angry with his fellow countrymen when the townspeople expelled his friend Hermodorus from Ephesus. However, when he was invited by the inhabitants of Athens and the king of Persia Darius, the philosopher did not want to leave hometown. Towards the end of his life, he turned into a real hermit and went to live in the mountains, where he ate pasture.

Contemporaries gave Heraclitus the nickname “Scutinos”, i.e. "Dark", "Gloomy". It corresponded to his misanthropic moods and at the same time reflected the depth and mystery of his thoughts, often expressed in difficult-to-perceive images, as well as the “mood” of his entire philosophical system, which gave reason to contrast him with the “laughing sage” - Democritus.

Heraclitus was a prominent representative of the Ionian philosophical school, which, as the main idea, put forward the origin of all things from the beginning, its unity. For Heraclitus, such a first principle was fire, the material expression of which is the cosmos, which is constantly changing. It was this philosopher who first used the word “cosmos” to call the universe; previously this term hid the order that reigned in the life of a state or an individual.

Today we know only about the only work of Heraclitus - “On Nature”, which is represented by several dozen passages included in the works of other, later authors, in particular, Plato, Plutarch, Diogenes, etc. This philosophical doctrine consisted of three parts: theological, political and natural philosophical. The basis of Heraclitean teaching is the idea of ​​​​the variability of all things, the absence of anything permanent. In nature, there is a constant process of transition from one thing to another, a change of state, which is why “you cannot enter the same river twice.”

He introduces into terminology a multi-valued new concept - “logos”, which means, in particular, the principle of unity, which, by uniting opposite principles, brings the universe to order. According to Heraclitus, “discord is the father of everything,” the eternal struggle of opposites leads to the emergence of new phenomena. For him, good and evil, life and death, day and night were two sides of the same coin. This system of views made it possible to rank Heraclitus among the founders of dialectics, the first materialist philosophers who derived the dialectical principles of knowledge and being, although their ideas were somewhat naive.

According to researchers, Heraclitus cannot be attributed to anyone’s followers; most likely, he did not have his own students, but the influence of his system on the formation of the worldview of later thinkers is difficult to overestimate; he, like Pythagoras and Parmenides, took a direct part in laying the foundations for ancient and subsequently European philosophical thought.

The death of the great philosopher is shrouded in a trail of contradictory information: supposedly Heraclitus expected his death, being smeared with manure at his own request, and was torn to pieces by dogs. In these legends, some researchers see nothing more than the statements of the philosopher himself distorted beyond recognition, others - signs of his burial in accordance with Zoroastrian traditions, the influence of which can be traced in individual passages belonging to him. When exactly Heraclitus died is unknown; it supposedly happened in 480 BC. e.

Biography from Wikipedia

Heraclitus of Ephesus(Ancient Greek: Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος, 544-483 BC) - ancient Greek philosopher.

Founder of the first historical or original form of dialectics. Heraclitus was known as the Gloomy or Dark (in Aristotle - ancient Greek ὁ σκοτεινός λεγόμενος Ἡράκλειτος), and his philosophical system contrasted with the ideas of Democritus, which was noticed by subsequent generations.

His only work, from which only a few dozen fragments of quotes have survived, is the book “On Nature,” which consisted of three parts (“On Nature,” “On the State,” “On God”).

Little reliable information has been preserved about the life of Heraclitus. He was born and lived in the Asia Minor city of Ephesus, his acme falls on the 69th Olympiad (504-501 BC), from this we can approximately deduce the date of his birth (about 540). According to some sources, he belonged to the family of basileus (priest-kings with purely nominal power in the time of Heraclitus), descendants of Androcles, however, voluntarily renounced the privileges associated with descent in favor of his brother.

Diogenes Laertius reports that Heraclitus, “hating people, withdrew and began to live in the mountains, feeding on pasture and herbs.” He writes that Melissus, a student of Parmenides, came to the philosopher in his voluntary exile and “introduced Heraclitus to the Ephesians, who did not want to know him.”

Biographers emphasize that Heraclitus “was not anyone’s listener.” He, apparently, was familiar with the views of the philosophers of the Milesian school, Pythagoras, and Xenophanes. He also most likely did not have direct students, but his intellectual influence on subsequent generations of ancient thinkers was significant. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were familiar with the work of Heraclitus; his follower Cratylus becomes the hero of the Platonic dialogue of the same name.

Some researchers interpret the gloomy and contradictory legends about the circumstances of the death of Heraclitus (“he ordered to cover himself with manure and, lying there, died”, “became the prey of dogs”) as evidence that the philosopher was buried according to Zoroastrian customs. Traces of Zoroastrian influence are also found in some fragments of Heraclitus.

Emperor Marcus Aurelius writes in his memoirs that Heraclitus died of dropsy and smeared himself with manure as a remedy for the disease.

Heraclitus is one of the founders of dialectics.

Teachings of Heraclitus

Since antiquity, primarily through the testimony of Aristotle, Heraclitus is known for five doctrines that are most important for the general interpretation of his teachings:

• Fire is the beginning (ancient Greek ἀρχή) or the original material cause of the world.
• There are periodic episodes of world fire (Ancient Greek: ἐκπύρωσις), during which the cosmos is destroyed in order to be reborn again.
• Everything is a flow (so-called. Doctrine or Flow theory).
• Identity of opposites.
• Violation of the law of contradiction. This doctrine is rather a consequence of (3) and (4) than an independent position of the teachings of Heraclitus.

Modern interpretations are often based on the recognition that all of these provisions of Heraclitus are partially or completely untenable, and are characterized by a refutation of each of these doctrines. In particular, F. Schleiermacher rejected (1) and (2), Hegel - (2), J. Burnet - (2), (4), (5), K. Reinhardt, J. Kirk and M. Marcovich reject consistency all five.

In general, the teachings of Heraclitus can be reduced to the following key positions, with which most researchers agree:

• People try to comprehend the underlying connection of things: this is expressed in Logos as a formula or element of ordering, establishing general for all things (fr. 1, 2, 50 DK).

Heraclitus speaks of himself as one who has access to the most important truth about the structure of the world, of which man is a part, and knows how to establish this truth. The main ability of a person is to recognize the truth, which is “general”. Logos is the criterion of truth, final destination method of organizing things. The technical meaning of the word is “speech”, “attitude”, “calculation”, “proportion”. Logos was probably posited by Heraclitus as an actual component of things, and in many respects correlated with the primary cosmic component, fire.

• Various types of evidence of the essential unity of opposites (fr. 61, 111, 88; 57; 103, 48, 126, 99);

Heraclitus sets 4 various types connections between apparent opposites:

a) the same things produce the opposite effect

“The sea is the purest and dirtiest water: for fish it is drinkable and life-saving, for people it is unfit for drinking and destructive” (61 DK)

“Pigs enjoy mud more than clean water" (13 DK)

“The most beautiful of monkeys is ugly in comparison with another genus” (79 DK)

b) different aspects of the same things can find opposite descriptions (writing is linear and round).

c) good and desirable things, such as health or rest, seem possible only if we recognize their opposite:

“Illness makes health pleasant and good, hunger makes you full, tiredness makes you rest” (111 DK)

d) some opposites are essentially related (literally “to be the same”), since they follow each other, are pursued by each other and by nothing but themselves. So hot-cold- this is a hot-cold continuum, these opposites have one essence, one thing in common for the whole pair - temperature. Also a couple day-night- the temporal meaning of “day” will be common to the opposites included in it.

All these types of opposites can be reduced to two large groups: (i - a-c) opposites that are inherent or simultaneously produced by one subject; (ii - d) opposites that are connected through existence in different states into one stable process.

• Each pair of opposites thus forms both unity and multiplicity. Various pairs of opposites form an internal relationship

  “Conjugations (ancient Greek συνάψιες): whole and non-whole, converging divergent, consonant dissonant, from everything - one, from one - everything" (10 DK)

Συνάψιες is letters“things taken together”, relationships. Such “things taken together” must first of all be opposites: what is given together with night is day (Heraclitus here expresses what we might call “simple qualities” and which he was then able to classify as opposites; that is, this all those changes that can be correlated as occurring between opposites). Thus, “things taken together” are indeed described in one sense as “whole”, that is, forming one continuum, in another sense - as “not a whole”, as individual components. Applying these alternative analyzes to the conglomeration of “things taken together,” one can see that “out of all things a unity is formed,” and also that from this unity (ἐξ ἑνὸς) an external, discrete, multiple aspect of things (“all”, πάντα) can emerge. .

There is some relationship between God and the number of pairs of opposites

“God: day-night, winter-summer, war-peace, excess-need (that is, all opposites - this is the meaning); it changes as if mixed with incense, and is named according to the smell of each [of them]” (67 DK)

Unlike the teachings of Xenophanes, Heraclitus sees God as immanent in things or as the sum of pairs of opposites. Heraclitus did not associate God with the need for cult or service. God is not essentially different from logos, and logos, among other things, collects things and makes them opposites, relationship between them are proportional and balanced. God is the common connecting element for all opposite ends of any oppositions. The total multiplicity of things thus forms a single, connected, definite complex - unity.

• The unity of things is obvious, it lies right on the surface and depends on balanced interactions between opposites (fr. 54, 123, 51 DK).

Moreover, the implicit type of connection between opposites is stronger than the obvious type of connection

“Hidden harmony is better than obvious” (ἁρμονίη ἀφανὴς φανερῆς κρείττων) (54 DK)

• The general balance in the cosmos can only be maintained if changes in one direction ultimately lead to changes in the other, that is, if there is an endless “enmity” between opposites (fr. 80, 53).
• The image of the river (“Flow Theory”) illustrates the type of unity that depends on the preservation of measure and balance in changes (fr. 12).
• The world is an ever-living fire, parts of which always fade to the forms of the other two main world components, water and earth. The changes between fire, sea and earth establish a balance among themselves; pure or ethereal fire plays a decisive role.
• Astronomy. Celestial bodies there are bowls of fire, fed by vapors from the sea; astronomical events also have their own measure.
• Wisdom consists of truly understanding how the world works. Only God can be wise; man is endowed with reason (φρόνησις) and intuition (νοῦς), but not with wisdom.

“Wisdom is to know everything as one” (50 DK)

• Souls are made of fire; they arise from it and return to it; moisture, completely absorbed by the soul, leads it to death. We correlate the fire of the soul with the fire of the world.
• Those who are awake, asleep and dead are correlated according to the degree of fieryness in the soul. In a dream, souls are partially separated from the world fire, etc. their activity is reduced.
• Virtuous souls do not become water after the death of the body, on the contrary, they live, connecting with cosmic fire.
• The worship of traditional religion is stupidity, although it may accidentally point to the truth (fr. 5, 14, 15, 93 DK).
• Ethical and Policy Recommendations, suggesting that self-awareness and moderation should be recognized as the main ideals.

Heraclitus' criticism of Milesian philosophy and the doctrine of fire

Heraclitus's doctrine of fire can be understood as a response to the early Ionian (Milesian) philosophers. The philosophers Miletus (a city near Ephesus), Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes believed that there is some initial substance or primary element that becomes any other things. The world as we know it is an ordered compound various elements or substances produced by the primary element, primary matter. For the Milesians, to explain the world and its phenomena meant simply to show how everything comes into being, arises, or is transformed from an original substance, as is the case with the water of Thales or the air of Anaximenes.

Heraclitus seems to follow this pattern of explaining the world when he views the world as an “ever-living fire” (B 30 DK) and states that “Lightning governs all things,” alluding to the governing power of fire (B 64 DK). But the choice of fire as the initial primary substance is extremely strange: the primary substance must be stable and stable, preserving its essential qualities, while fire is fickle and extremely changeable, being a symbol of change and process. Heraclitus notes:

“All things are secured by fire, and fire is [secured] by all things, just as property is [secured by] gold, and property is [secured] by gold” (B 90 DK)

We can measure all things in relation to fire as a standard; there is an equivalence between gold and all things, but things are not identical with gold. In the same way, fire provides a standard of value for other elements, but is not identical with them. Fire plays an essential role in the teachings of Heraclitus, but it is not the exclusive and unique source for other things, since all things or elements are equivalent. Fire is important more as a symbol than as a primary element. Fire is constantly changing, just like other elements. One substance is transformed into another in some cycle of change. What carries constancy is not any primary element, but the universal process of change itself. There is a certain constant law of transformations that can be correlated with Logos. Heraclitus might say that the Milesians correctly believed that one element turns into another through a series of transformations, but they incorrectly deduced from this the existence of some primary element as the sole source of everything that exists.

If A is the source of B, and B the source of C, and C turns into B and then into A, then B is the source of A and C, and C is the source of A and B. There is no special reason for the promotion of one element or substance as compensation for the consumption of another substance. It is important to note that any substance can be converted into any other. The only constant in this process is the law of change, through which the order and sequence of changes is established. If this is indeed what Heraclitus had in mind when developing his philosophical system, then he goes far beyond the usual physical theory his predecessors, and rather builds a system with a more subtle understanding of metaphysics.

The Doctrine of Fire and Logos

Hendrik Terbruggen. Heraclitus of Ephesus, 1628

According to his teaching, everything came from fire and is in a state of constant change. Fire is the most dynamic, changeable of all the elements. Therefore, for Heraclitus, fire became the beginning of the world, while water is only one of its states. Fire condenses into air, air turns into water, water into earth (“the downward path”, which gives way to the “upward path”). The Earth itself, on which we live, was once a red-hot part of the universal fire, but then cooled down.

Philosophers are table companions of the gods. Logos - both mind and Word - has the function of controlling (things, processes, space). Through Socrates and the Stoics, this thought of Heraclitus apparently passed into the Targums, and from there into the Christian teaching about the Logos - the second person of the Holy Trinity.

Sextus. adv. math. VII 132; Hippolyt. Refiitatio IX 9.1 του δε λόγου .. οκωςεχει“But although this logos exists forever, people turn out to not understand it, both before they listen to it and after listening to it once. For although all [people] come face to face with this logos, they appear unfamiliar with it even when they try to understand such words and deeds as I explain, dividing them according to their nature and clearly expressing what they are. As for other people, they are not aware of what they are doing in reality, just as they are oblivious to what they are doing in their dreams.”

The idea of ​​universal variability and movement

Heraclitus believed that everything is constantly changing. The position of universal variability was associated by Heraclitus with the idea of ​​the internal bifurcation of things and processes into opposite sides, with their interaction. Heraclitus believed that everything in life arises from opposites and is known through them: “Illness makes health pleasant and good, hunger makes you full, fatigue makes you rest.” Logos as a whole is the unity of opposites, a system-forming connection. “Hearing not to me, but to the logos, it is wise to recognize that all is one.”

Sayings

• What can be seen, heard, learned, I prefer. (55 DK)
• Nature loves to hide. (123 DK)
• Secret harmony is better than obvious harmony. (54 DK)
• I was looking for myself. (101 DK)
• Eyes and ears are bad witnesses for people if their souls are barbaric. (107 DK)
• One must know that war is generally accepted, that enmity is the law (δίκη), and that everything arises through enmity and mutually. (80 DK)
• War is the father of all, the king of all: it declares some to be gods, others to be people, some to be slaves, others to be free. (53 DK)
• When entering the same rivers, some waters flow at one time, and at another time different waters (12 DK)
• A century is a child playing, throwing dice, a child on the throne. (52 DK)
• Personality (ἦθος) is the deity of man. (119 DK)
• The people must fight for the trampled law, as for a wall (of a city). (44 DK)
• Born to live, they are doomed to death, (or rather, to repose), and even leave children so that [new] death will be born (20 DK)
• Much knowledge does not teach intelligence. (40 DK, often erroneously attributed to Lomonosov)

(Cited according to the edition: Fragments of early Greek philosophers, M., Nauka, 1989)

• This cosmos, the same for everyone, was not created by any of the gods or people, but it always was, is and will be an eternally living fire, flaring up in measures and extinguishing in measures.
• For those who are awake, there is one common world (Ancient Greek: κοινὸς κόσμος), and among those sleeping, each one turns away into his own (Ancient Greek: ἴδιος κόσμος).

Composition

Later authors (from Aristotle and Plutarch to Clement of Alexandria and Hippolytus of Rome) found numerous (about 100 in total) quotations and paraphrases from his work. Experiments in collecting and systematizing these fragments were undertaken with early XIX century, the works of F. Schleiermacher became a significant milestone in the study of the legacy of Heraclitus. But the pinnacle of these studies was the classic work of Hermann Diels (Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, first edition in 1903). During the 20th century. the collection of Heraclitean fragments was repeatedly supplemented, and attempts were also made to reconstruct their original order, to recreate the structure and content of the original text (Markovich, Muravyov).

Diogenes Laertius cites several titles of Heraclitus’s work: “The Muses”, “On Nature”, “The Infallible Rule for the Rule of Living” and a number of other options; most likely, all of them do not belong to the author. He writes that the “poem” of Heraclitus “is divided into three discussions: about everything, about the state and about divinity.” According to him, Heraclitus placed his book “in the sanctuary of Artemis, taking care (as they say) to write it as darkly as possible, so that only the able had access to it.” Diogenes Laertius preserved an epigram characterizing the work of Heraclitus:

The same Diogenes Laertius reports that Socrates allegedly read the work of Heraclitus, and after reading it declared: “What I understood is excellent; which I probably didn’t understand either. But, really, for such a book you need to be a Delian diver.”

Iconography

• Crying Heraclitus and laughing Democritus

Memory

In 1935, the International Astronomical Union assigned the name of Heraclitus to the crater on visible side Moons.

PHILOSOPHY OF HERACLITUS

The great dialectician of the ancient world is Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 520-460 BC). “Everything that exists,” he taught, “is constantly moving from one state to another: everything flows, everything changes; You cannot step into the same river twice; There is nothing stationary in the world: cold things get warmer, warm things get colder, wet things dry out, dry things get moistened. Emergence and disappearance, life and death, birth and death - being and non-being - are interconnected, they condition and transform into each other.” According to his views, the transition of a phenomenon from one state to another occurs through the struggle of opposites, which he called the eternal “universal logos,” i.e., a single law common to all existence. Heraclitus taught that the world was not created by any of the gods or by any of the people, but was, is and will be an eternally living fire, naturally igniting and naturally dying out.

Heraclitus of Ephesus came from an aristocratic family, deprived of power by democracy, spent his life avoiding secular affairs, and towards the end of his life he completely became a hermit. The main work “On Nature,” preserved only in fragments, was recognized even during the life of Heraclitus as profound and difficult to understand, for which the author received the nickname “dark.”

In the doctrine of being (ontology), Heraclitus claims that the fundamental principle of the world is fire. The cosmos was not created by anyone, but was, is and will be an eternally living fire, now flaring up, now extinguishing. Fire is eternal, space is a product of fire. Fire undergoes a series of transformations, first becoming water, and water is the seed of the universe. Water in turn is transformed into earth and air, giving rise to the surrounding world.

Heraclitus can be considered the founder of the doctrine of knowledge (epistemology). He was the first to distinguish between sensory and rational knowledge. Cognition, in his opinion, begins with feelings, but sensory data provide only a superficial characteristic of what is being known, and therefore must be processed accordingly by the mind.

The social and legal views of Heraclitus are known, in particular his respect for the law. “The people must fight for the law as for a city wall, and crime must be extinguished faster than a fire,” he said. The dialectic of Heraclitus, which takes into account both sides of a phenomenon - both its variability and its unchangeable nature, was not adequately perceived by contemporaries and was already subjected to a wide variety of criticism in antiquity. If Cratylus called for ignoring the moment of stability, then the Eleatics (immigrants from the city of Elea) Xenophanes (c. 570-478 BC), Parmenides (late 6th-5th centuries BC), Zeno (mid-5th centuries BC) BC), on the contrary, focused attention precisely on the moment of stability, reproaching Heraclitus for exaggerating the role of variability.
......................................................