Heraclitus

Also known as Heraclitus of Ephesus, Weeping Philosopher

Heraclitus (; ; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. He exerts a wide influence on Western philosophy, both ancient and modern, through the works of such authors as Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Martin Heidegger.

AI overview

Heraclitus was an ancient Greek philosopher from Ephesus who lived before Socrates and made significant contributions to Western thought. His ideas proved so influential that major philosophers throughout history—from Plato and Aristotle to modern thinkers like Hegel, Nietzsche, and Heidegger—drew upon and developed his work.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Works: 98

Top works

Prentice Hall Literature -- Platinum
Heraklit fragmente
Hērakleitos
Héraclite d'Ephèse Doctrines philosophiques
Allegoriae homericae qvae svb Heraclidis nomine fervntvr

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Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Male
Country: Greece
Active from: -535

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Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 16
Total plays: 26

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

The Art and Thought of Heraclitus
· 1979 · cited 37x
Heraclitus, Fragments: A Text and Translation with a Commentary
· 1988 · cited 1x
Testimonia, Part 3: Reception (R)
· 2016
Testimonia, Part 2: Doctrine (D)
· 2016
Heraclitus: The Cosmic Fragments
· 1956

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Quotes

“τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν”
“πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει”
“δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης.”
“χαλεπώτερον ἡδονῇ μάχεσθαι ἢ θυμῷ”
“τὴν μεταβολὴν ὁδὸν ἄνω κάτω, τόν τε κόσμον γίνεσθαι κατ' αὐτήν.”
“αἰὼν παῖς ἐστι παίζων, πεσσεύων· παιδὸς ἡ βασιληίη.”

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Key facts

Philosopher.region: Western philosophy
Philosopher.era: Pre-Socratic philosophy
Philosopher.image: Heraclitus_b_4_compressed.jpg
Philosopher.caption: Bust No 3. of the Hall of Philosophers, Capitoline Museum in Rome, identified as Heraclitus
Philosopher.name: Heraclitus
Philosopher.birth_place: Ephesus, Ionia, Persian Empire
Philosopher.death_place: Ephesus, Ionia, Delian League
Philosopher.school_tradition: Ionian

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Place of birth: Ephesus
Place of death: Ephesus
Image: Abraham Janssens - Heraclitus.jpg
Residence: Ephesus

Show 6 more facts

date of birth: 0535-00-00
Commons category: Heraclitus
date of death: 0470-00-00
name in native language: Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος
Commons Creator page: Heraclitus
significant place: Ephesus

Sources (5)

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Works in European collections

4 objects attributed to Heraclitus, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

Untitled

~52 min read

Article

48 sections

Contents

Life
''On Nature''
Structure
Style
The Obscure
Philosophy
Unity of opposites and flux
''Panta rhei''
You cannot step into the same river twice
Strife is justice
''Logos''
Fire as the ''arche''
Cosmology
God
The Soul
Foreign influence
Persia
India
Egypt
Legacy
Ancient
Eleatics
Pluralists and atomists
Sophists
Plato and Aristotle
Stoics
Cynics
Pyrrhonists
Early Christianity
Weeping philosopher
Modern
Rationalism
British empiricism
Post-Kantianism
Heraclitean studies
Continental
Analytic
Notes
Explanatory notes
Fragment numbers
Citations
References
Ancient sources
Testimony
Fragments
Imitation
Modern scholarship
External links

Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrote a single work, of which only fragments survive. Even in ancient times, his paradoxical philosophy, appreciation for wordplay, and cryptic, oracular epigrams earned him the epithets "the dark" and "the obscure". He was considered arrogant and depressed, a misanthrope who was subject to melancholia. Consequently, he became known as "the weeping philosopher" in contrast to the ancient atomist philosopher Democritus, who was known as "the laughing philosopher".