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Heraclitus — By John William Cook (1825) Via Wikimedia Commons
Philosophy has a barrier. Or at least it seems that way when you go through its history and foundations within the Western world. You’ll usually see its Greek origins divided between the time before and after Socrates. Like before and after common era in our dates, but add a big “S” instead of an “AD,” or “BC.”
I was always told it’s set this way because Socrates was such a dynamic and influential character, he changed the nature of philosophy. But that explanation has unintended consequences. It makes you think those before were lesser, and philosophy begins after Socrates.
But what if I told you a Pre “S” philosopher had his writings stored in one of the ancient wonders of the world for posterity? The Temple of Artemis might have been the only place enormous enough to contain his larger-than-life ideas.
- They inspired base principles of both Stoicism and Christianity
- His thoughts from 500BC parallel Darwin, Nietzsche, and William James of our present age.
- He intentionally made his work vague, like the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, so readers would be encouraged to think, not just repeat ideas of a chosen enlightened group.
To make this character even more unique, he became a total misanthrope, eventually moving away from a traditionally tight-knit Greek community to live by himself like a hermit. He also bashed every “wise” philosopher of his day.
Imagine a grouchy old man, yelling at kids to get off his lawn, while formulating the very nature of our universe, which he’d leave for later years as those children grew. As adults, those grown kids would realize the grouch had a point, and the words he yelled and left were actually pretty wise.
All this sums up Heraclitus of Ephesus. But to truly understand the magnitude of his thoughts, it’s best to navigate through his four base principles: Fire as the First Cause, change is eternal, the unity of opposites, and a reason for the whole (logos).
