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Heraclitus Research Paper

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“The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bare the light of day. The content of your character is your choice day by day, what you do is who you become, your integrity is your destiny – it is the light that guides your way” – Heraclitus

the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, also known as the obscure philosopher or the weeping philosopher is the first Western philosopher to go beyond physical theory in search on metaphysical foundations and moral applications. He was famous for his theories on flux and opposites as well as ontology and cosmology. I choose him for my assignment for the simple fact that he’s one of the few underrated philosophers. Another reason is because of his creed and ability to break the mold of contemporary thought. I’ll discuss many things but mainly; What are his philosophical principles? Was he a philosopher of nature or a philosopher concerned with human condition? And lastly who were his influences as well as who did he influence? To sum it up, I intend to discuss aspects of the philosophy of Heraclitus’ theories, principles and his doctrine by providing my insights.

Already in antiquity, Heraclitus was famous and known for advocating the coincidence of opposites (unity of opposites). The …show more content…

There has been some debate as to whether he is a philosopher of nature or a philosopher concerned with the human condition. He seemed to see the theory of nature and human condition as intimately connected. Recently discovered papyri have shown that Heraclitus is concerned with technical questions of astronomy, not only with general theory. There is no reason, then, to think of him solely as a humanist or moral philosopher, then it would be to think of him as a straight forward natural philosopher in the manner of other Ionian philosophers. For her is deeply concerned with the moral implications of physical

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