Heraclitus , known as “the obscure”, was a pre-Socratic thinker and philosopher considered the ” Father of Dialectic “.
Heraclitus Biography
Heraclitus of Ephesus , he was born in the city of Ephesus, around 540 BC, a former Greek colony, Ionian region in Asia Minor, present-day Turkey.
Son of nobles, he belonged to the royal family of the city. A strong personality, Heráclito did not appreciate public life and moved away from themes such as art and religion.
In view of this, he spent a large part of his life introspective with his proud and snobbish manner, being highly criticized by his people.
With that, he started to live in the mountains, away from everyone and perfecting his theories.
Heraclitus Philosophy
Like Tales of Miletus , Heraclitus believed in the unique principle supported by the “ Unitarian Philosophy ”, whose principle was based on elementary unity and, in the case of Heraclitus, the element of fire. According to him,
” Everything comes from the One and the One comes from the Whole “.
The philosopher based his ideas on the fundamental law of nature, so that, according to him, ” Everything flows ” and ” Nothing is permanent, except change “.
From that, he believed that everything that exists is in permanent change or transformation, a concept called “ Becoming ” (becoming, becoming), subject to “logos” (reason or law).
In view of his concepts, he was the creator of dialectical thought, the doctrine of opposites, where, from contradictions, dialectical unity emerges.
In short, dialectics proposes the search for truth through the relationship between two opposing concepts, in a relationship of interdependence.
For example, darkness only exists because the concept of light is its opposite, where one does not exist without the other.
Thus, Heráclito, father of the dialectic, affirms that all things through the duality, whose “logos” is its resultant, that is, the knowledge born of this clash.
Heraclitus quotes
- “ Nobody enters the same river a second time, because when that happens, it is no longer the same, as well as the waters that will already be different .”
- “ Let us stop asking what the future holds and receive as a present whatever it is that brings us today. “
- ” A lot of study doesn’t teach understanding .”
- “ Wisdom is the goal of the human soul; but the person, as he advances in his knowledge, sees the horizon of the unknown farther and farther away. “
- “ War is the mother and queen of all things; some transform into gods, others into men; some make slaves, others free men . ”
- “ Wisdom consists in speaking and acting on the truth. Learning a lot doesn’t teach understanding. All things come in due time. The sun is new every day . ”