This is what's left of the work of Heraclitus, the most interesting and enigmatic of the pre-Socratic philosophers. Diversity and constant mutation; the contraries which are reconciled in the final and total unity of Logos. Heraclitus tells us that the Universe is in permanent, constant transformation, that this perennial movement is embedded in the One, the summing up of all things which constitutes only one concept (Logos). The opposite of Parmenides, who emphasized Unity over Diversity and transformation, Heraclitus is proof that, by his time (6th century BC), educated Greeks took mythology basically as literature and folklore, but not as serious religion: their minds had expanded well beyond the fantastic adventures of the many antropomorphic Gods, to devise and understand that the Divinity has to be the final Unity, whatever its form. Heraclitus is, surprisingly, extremely "modern" in his approach to Nature and Divinity. The fragments reveal a powerful intellect, a real and relevant precursor of Western culture and civilization. Recommendable both to professional philosophers (whatever that means) and to the public interested in reflecting about the Universe and what it is. (Guillermo Maynez)
Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535 – c. 475 BCE) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor. He was of distinguished parentage. Little is known about his early life and education, but he regarded himself as self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom. From the lonely life he led, and still more from the riddling nature of his philosophy and his contempt for humankind in general, he was called "The Obscure" and the "Weeping Philosopher".
Heraclitus is famous for his insistence on ever-present change in the universe, as stated in the famous saying, "No man ever steps in the same river twice". He believed in the unity of opposites, stating that "the path up and down are one and the same", all existing entities being characterized by pairs of contrary properties. His cryptic utterance that "all entities come to be in accordance with this Logos" (literally, "word", "reason", or "account") has been the subject of numerous interpretations.
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