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The Philosophical Fragments of Heraclitus: A Translation with Commentary

Author: DongXiaoPeng
Tutor: ZhangQiang
School: Northeast Normal University
Course: Historical Philology
Keywords: Heraclitus philosophy fire Logos translation
CLC: B502
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2011
Downloads: 94
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Abstract

About the personal career of Heraclitus, there is only a few ancient literature, According to Plato he was an citizen of Ephesus in Ionia; Aristotle provides some irrelevant anecdotes about him(On animal parts).And there are only a few scattered records, It was not until 300bc that Diogenes Laertius wrote a biography for him, but there are some inconsistencies in it and it is not quite reliable. According to Diogenes His father was named either Bloson or Herakon, and Heraclitus flourished in the 69th Olympiad.The reason for his significance in the history of western philosophy is that he made a number of propositions which had been unprecedented in earlier times. For example his opinion about strife is outstandingly different from his predecessors." War is the father and king of all, and has produced some as gods and some as men, and has made some slaves and some free." He holds that strife is what makes the world full of life, and he identifies fire as the element consisting of the world. He says:"This world, the same for all, neither any of the gods nor any man has made, but it always was, and is, and shall be, an ever living fire, kindled in due measure, and in due measure extinguished."In epistemology his achievements are even more admirable He points out clearly that there is a universal law regulating the relations between all things. This law he refers to as "Logos". This logos tends to conceal itself, and the great majority of the people turn a blind eye to it although they constantly encounter it. Whether they recognise this Logos is a test of their wisdom. A learned man is not necessarily a wise man, a philosopher, such a person has only perceptual knowledge. A really wise man acts and governs according to truth having the overruling insight of everything. Thus he sets forth the ideas of universal law,perceptual knowledge and rational knowledge.He develops a brand-new doctrine of the Unity of opposites. He says "They do not understand:how that which separates unites with itself. It is a harmony of oppositions, as in the case of the bow and of the lyre." "Unite whole and part, agreement and disagreement, accordant and discordant; from all comes one, and from one all." Thus the dialectical theory of knowledge originates from him. And on this point he is quite similar to Laozi.In the understanding of divinity he also differs from his predecessors. being rid of the idea of humanised gods, he sallies forth into a new area of rationality, in this fashion, all these statements and ideas convince the reader that he is rather an atheist.This paper is the first complete translation in Chinese from the original ancient Greek with a discussion concerning the methodology in the studies of Heraclitean philosophy.The author wishes to make his contribution to the studies of Heraclitean philosophy in China.

The Philosophical Fragments of Heraclitus: A Translation with Commentary

Abstract

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