Heraclitus vs. Parmenides: Pre-Socratic Philosophy
1. Heraclitus and Parmenides: A Comparative View of Pre-Socratic Philosophy
(Considering: Logos, identity of opposites, being/not-being, truth/appearance, the thinker and the common person)
Heraclitus (544-484 BC)
A significant number of fragments survive—enough to form a small book. His difficult language earned him the nickname “the Obscure.”
Key features:
- Short, impactful statements
- First philosopher to use the term philosophos, indicating a specific mindset
We can distinguish:
1. References to the Unique and Common: Heraclitus uses words like logos, cosmos, physis, and fire to refer to a common principle, but avoids creating technical terms. He uses everyday language, forcing it into new philosophical meanings.
- Logos: Meaning word, language, reason, and principle. It implies an ordering principle, a recognition and distinction of things. Language allows us to understand the order of things.
- Physis: Nature in the sense of the inherent nature of a thing (e.g., the nature of fire is to burn). It also implies presence and emergence.
- Kosmos: Order, the universe as an ordered whole.
These terms point to:
- A common principle underlying all things (logos)
- The identity of opposites
- Two possible attitudes towards the logos
(1) There is a common reason or law for all things (logos). Things are what they are because they have a distinct way of being (physis).
2. The Identity of Opposites:
(3) Two Possible Human Attitudes: The philosopher and the common person. The philosopher understands the presence of things and the identity of opposites; the common person is bound to immediate experience. The reason why the day is day is the same reason why the night is night.
(3) Things are contrasted, and this contrast gives them meaning. The presence of ordinary things is a constant movement (day/night, health/sickness). Understanding this is to realize the logos. This illustrates the identity of opposites. The ability to see this difference between the ordinary and extraordinary is key.
Things are in constant change (Heraclitus), but the logos remains constant because it is not a thing.
Parmenides (540-470 BC)
From Magna Graecia (Southern Italy). His poem, written in dactylic hexameter (like Homer), is a revelation from a goddess. He is the first to use the word “being.” His work reveals two ways of understanding reality: the thinker’s and the common person’s.
Double Contrast:
- Being/Not-being
- Truth/Appearance
Contrast: Recognizing the presence of things is opposed to not-being. One can focus on a single thing (being).
- Being is, not-being is not.
Parmenides focuses on being, excluding not-being. Being is knowable, experimentable, definable, clear, and present. Being is singular and common.