Heraclitus and Parmenides: The Idea of Change

The origins of Western philosophy lie with a set of men whose extraordinary contributions date as far back as 600 BC. Frequently, they are identified as Presocratics because these truth-seekers are predecessors of Socrates, the gifted Athenian thinker who greatly influenced the course of Western philosophy through his exceptional apprentice Plato. Mere fragments of the work of the Presocratics remain. Although limited information of their writing exists, some portions of their books and allusions to their writings in other thinkers’ books provides us adequate knowledge of their ideas (Horner 18). These men attempted to explain the true nature of reality.

Two of these Presocratics, Heraclitus and Parmenides, will be compared. Each philosopher centered his argument around the perception of change. At first glance the two theories appear in opposition, yet in essence, their overall conclusion is in accord.

Heraclitus, an Ephesian, had a reputation for writing in riddles and condensed epigrams, concise and paradoxical sayings. He penned a book, although only minuscule portions of that work have been discovered. For the preceding reasons, he was known as, “Heraclitus the obscure,” during Roman times (Horner 1

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First, the change aspect will be analyzed. Parmenides would rebut that all of these happenings are pure illusion. Parmenides believed that people depended quite heavily on their senses and on their experiences. ” In either manner stated, both reflect the notion of reality being in a state of incessant metamorphosis and constant antagonism. However, Heraclitus’ idea of constant change agrees more with the accepted scientific theory that all matter are composed of an infinite number of atoms that are in constant motion so rapid that we are unaware of the activity. This point is similar to a postulate of Newton’s theory of relativity that matter is neither created nor destroyed. This appears to eliminate any sense of creativity of mind. Here is an excerpt from Heraclitus:

This world-order, the same for all, no god made or any man, but it always was and is an will be an ever-lasting fire, kindling by measure and going out by measure . As seemingly indicated by Heraclitus, logos is reality. ” It is derived from the Greek word, “logos,” which means reason. He believed in the oneness of objects that are unlike and even sometimes opposites.

Approximate Word count = 1435
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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