Heraclitus on the Universe
Scholars have long attempted to read Heraclitus as a systematic thinker, hoping to decipher a coherent world-system in his fragments. But they have often failed to identify the structure of language that he uses to refer to his ideas.
Heraclitus believes in flux, but not as destructive of constancy; rather, the clash of opposites is a necessary condition for continuity.
Earth
Heraclitus was one of the most influential, if difficult, of the Pre-Socratic philosophers. Plato and Aristotle both viewed him as violating the law of non-contradiction and propounding an incoherent theory of flux.
He believed that “all is in flux” and that everything was constantly changing. He attributed this to the law of universal change and the fact that opposites coincide, a concept also developed by the Milesian philosophers and Pythagoras.
Heraclitus identified the ruling power of the universe with Zeus, but not in a conventional sense. He sees the conflict of opposite powers as what gives life its variety and character. He also uses the fiery shaft of lightning as a symbol for this process.
Water
Heraclitus’s strange use of double meaning and the conflation of opposites into identity have made it difficult for modern philosophers to interpret his work. But Heraclitus was deliberately obscure in order to wake up his readers and force them to think.
His central concept was the principle of flux. He compared the flow of existents to that of water, saying that you cannot step into the same river twice.
Heraclitus believed that when a portion of “stuff” turned into water, it was replaced by an equal amount that turned into fire. This maintained an overall balance of stuffs. This is Heraclitus’s law of flux.
Fire
Heraclitus was a Presocratic philosopher who had a profound impact on both the philosophy of nature and human affairs. He is best known for his doctrines of universal flux and the coincidence of opposites.
He compared the world order (kosmos) to an everliving fire kindling in measures and being quenched in measures. He saw harmony and stability as arising out of strife in this eternal process.
Heraclitus’s view seems to be a response to his Milesian predecessors, who, like Thales with water, Anaximander with the apeiron, and Anaximenes with air, believed some original stuff turned into all other things. Heraclitus, on the other hand, sees a pattern of transformations that is a unity of opposites, which he calls “god”. He also calls this god ‘the wise one’.
Sky
Although Heraclitus’s work is only fragmentary, it had a major impact on Western philosophy. He is often seen as a philosopher of nature, but the opening words of his book (DK22B1) suggest that he saw theory and human life as intertwined.
Heraclitus argued that everything flows and that this is the essential character of the universe. This view has had a profound influence on the philosophy of modern times, especially in the work of Plato and Aristotle.
Heraclitus was a Fluxist. Unlike Democritus, who believed that compounds do not change, Heraclitus taught that everything is in flux. Stability arises out of the tension between opposites.
Air
Heraclitus is known for his paradoxical philosophy and appreciation of wordplay and cryptic, oracular epigrams. This unusual style of writing loads his words with double meanings and complexities, forcing readers to solve verbal puzzles. The result is that the truths Heraclitus reveals come to us as discoveries resulting from the solving of a puzzle.
Heraclitus is the first philosopher in Western history to go beyond physical theory and arrive at a metaphysical foundation. He did this by arguing that the stuffs of our universe, including air, turn into each other in a regular pattern. Conflicts between opposites, such as day and night and hot and cold, and life and death, make this regular pattern possible.
Humans
Heraclitus argues that human character plays an important role in one’s luck. It is possible to have a good or bad guardian spirit, eudaimon or dusdaimon, and this determines one’s fortune.
He is not pessimistic about humans’ cognitive abilities; he urges moderation and self-control. Heraclitus also teaches that people need to learn to think differently in order to understand the Logos, which is hidden within everything.
Heraclitus was influenced by the Milesians Thales of Miletus, Anaximander and his student Anaximenes. He differed with them in that he saw fire as the divine element and that flux was the underlying principle of the universe.