Heraclitus

Grumpy guy going around the street insulting everyone. Due to his behavior, he didn't have many followers to tell about gim, and his notes aren't that revealing as well as he was purposfully cryptic to "hide his thoughts".

His teachings talk about a universal cosmic law which governs everything. Some of his main ideas are

  • opposites (like day and night) are one same thing, just on opposite ends of the spectrum
  • Universe is kept in a state of unity by its battling opposites
  • One of the opposites always gives the other it's significance - you can't appreciate heat until you've felt cold (You can't have nice things without Suffering)
  • Everything is in permanent state of flux
  • since everything is changing, you can never precisely define what something is (standing in the same river twice)

He wasn't really popular amongst philosophers, Plato and Aristotle completely wrote him off based on the work of one of his few students.

He spent a fair share of his life playing dice for money. There is a story that he died covered in manure while trying to cure edema on his own, as he was intelectually superior to medical doctors.

Pre-Socratic PhilosophersPre-Socratic Philosophers
Pre-Socratics are philosophers who developed original schools of thought and predated [[@Socrates]].

It's important to note that division to before and after Socrates comes not as much from the im...


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