Heraclitus was born in Ephesus around 540 BCE. He was a member of the aristocracy but turned his back on politics, the normal job for the aristocrats in ancient Greece. He had a reputation of misanthropy (the hatred of other people) and obscurity which led to his nicknames of "the obscure" and "the riddler".
His philosophy.
His cosmological view is seems to be influenced by Xenophales. Having a single divine law that controls and steers the cosmos, called logos. Where his views change is that he believes people have the capacity to know all of logos, he believes that the most people do not exercise this ability. Heraclitus tries to bridge the gap between logos and human knowledge pointed out in mytho-poetic traditions. And believes that learning facts is useless unless used to gain insight into logos.
He seems to be a little full of himself, but does make some strong arguments in how to live ones life. He constantly talks about digging deeper "You would not discover the limits of the soul although you traveled every road: so deep a logos does it have" Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosopher.
His point in trying to say that even if you knew every road in the world you would have not discovered everything about logos is that he finds facts useless unless they are examined and thought in away that shows how logos interacts with the cosmos.
Good observation about his political involvement and his arrogance. I like the point about examination between logos and the cosmos as well.
ReplyDeleteGood reflections on digging deeper and using learning to gain deep understanding.
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