Heraclitus of Ephesus is an ancient Greek philosopher, one of the founders of dialectics. Only a few dozen fragments of his works and very little information about his biography have survived to this day. However, many philosophers of the following years noted the influence of Heraclitus on them, starting from Aristotle and Plato and ending with Hegel and Nietzsche.
Biography
Heraclitus was born in Asia Minor, in the city of Ephesus, hence the nickname Ephesus. The approximate date of birth is 544 BC. According to some versions, it belonged to the royal family, however, it abandoned its rights in favor of his brother and took up philosophy.
He spent most of his life as a hermit; he did not systematically study philosophy anywhere. Information about death is extremely contradictory; according to some versions, he died from dropsy about 480 BC.
Philosophy
The main categories of the philosophical teachings of Heraclitus are Fire and Logos. It is Fire, according to the philosopher, that is the main force in the world, life was born from it. Sometimes episodes of the so-called world fire occur and then the world changes faster and stronger. The Logos, on the other hand, is knowledge, a word, the ability of people to organize the world and know it.
The teachings of Heraclitus are also distinguished by the "Eternal Flow Theory." Hence one of the most famous quotes of Heraclitus:
Everything flows, everything changes.
This is a modified, simplified version of the quote. Here is a more complete excerpt from the works of Heraclitus:
Everything flows, everything changes. And no one was twice in the same river. For in a moment the river was not the same, and it was not the same.
The philosopher is considered the founder of dialectics, all phenomena in the world, according to Heraclitus, are known through opposites.
Illness makes health good and good, hunger means satiety, fatigue rest.
Quotes
In total, about a hundred sayings of Heraclitus are known, they are preserved largely due to references in the works of later Greek and Roman philosophers. Here are the most famous quotes of Heraclitus of Ephesus:
Beasts, living with us, become tame, and people, communicating with each other, become wild.
If happiness consisted in bodily pleasures, we would call bulls happy when they find peas for food.
The awake ones have one, common world, and the sleeping ones turn away each in their own.
People would not feel better if all their wishes were fulfilled.
Character determines fate.
Insolence must be extinguished more quickly than a fire.
Secret harmony is better than obvious.
Influence
For a long time after the ancient period, philosophy was not an independent science and was studied haphazardly, therefore, attempts to streamline all fragments of the works of Heraclitus began only at the end of the nineteenth century. By the beginning of the twentieth century, scientists managed to collect all the philosopher's sayings, which were quoted in other treatises and the statements of his contemporaries. Only one book of Heraclitus "On nature" has survived to this day, which includes three sections "On God", "On the State" and "On Nature".
Diogenes of Laertes, who lives two centuries after the death of the Ephesian philosopher, cites in his works one of the most famous quotes about Heraclitus:
Euripides gave Socrates the work of Heraclitus and asked his opinion; he replied: “What I understood is fine; which I probably didn’t understand, either. ”
Heraclitus was known not only by the nickname Ephesus, but he was also sometimes called Dark or Gloomy. Here is one of the possible reasons in the quote from Felix Krivin:
No one remembers the laughing of Heraclitus; he is only remembered for crying. Anaxagoras never laughed, and Mison, one of the seven sages, laughed only in solitude, afraid to compromise his wisdom.
Heraclitus can be considered the first notable philosopher who influenced the development of culture for many centuries to come and gave birth to many wise quotes.