Thread by @djp1974

The wise, one alone, unwilling and willing to be spoken of only by the name of #Zeus, the name of Life.

- #Heraclitus 113

[Kahn 1979, pp. 267-271]

“With deliberate antimony #Heraclitus here presents his positive conception of the divine ... The #aphorism is unusually dense and puzzling, full of conflicting forces mysteriously under control.”

- Kahn, ‘Art and Thought of #Heraclitus,’ 1979, pp. 267

“... for #Heraclitus as for Aeschylus ‘#etymology’ must be taken literally: an ‘etymos #logos’ is a ‘true statement’ hidden in the form of a name ... the name ‘Zēnos’ affirms that the supreme #deity is also a principle of life, like the ‘everliving fire’ ...”

- Kahn 1979 p. 270

This antithetical form can be seen as exhibiting in its own structure the #dialectical moment in his general doctrine of opposition: a strong sense of the positive force lurking behind a negation.

- Kahn, ‘Art and Thought of #Heraclitus,’ 1979, pp. 269

“But the contradiction can also be understood within the context of his attitude to language and assertion (‘legesthai’) which is one of profound ambivalence: a definitive statement of such supreme importance can be taken as both true and as false.”

- Kahn 1979, pp. 270

“This ambivalence reflects neither an intrinsic defect of language nor a conception of reality as incoherent or irrational. It springs rather from a grave sense of risk in communication, a risk amounting almost to a certainty that he will be misunderstood.”

- Kahn 1979, p 270

“The need for a two-tongued statement is a consequence to the #epistemic deafness of his audience.”

- Kahn, ‘Art and Thought of #Heraclitus,’ 1979, p. 270

“If #Heraclitus must, like an #oracle, ‘neither declare (legei) nor conceal but give a sign,’ that is because his listeners cannot follow a plain tale. If they had what it takes to comprehend his message, the truth would already be apparent to them.”

- Kahn 1979, p. 270

“But since words alone cannot make them understand ‘when their souls do not speak the language,’ he must resort to enigma, image, paradox, and even contradiction, to tease or shock the audience into giving thought to the obvious ...”

- Kahn 1979, pp. 270-271 #Heraclitus

“If they succeed, they will understand not this sentence alone but the unified #worldview that #Heraclitus means to communicate.”

- Kahn 1979, p. 271

“And central to such an understanding will be a recognition that the principle of cosmic order is indeed a principle of life, but that it is not willing to be called by this name alone. For it is also a principle of death.”

- Kahn, ‘Art and Thought of #Heraclitus,’ 1979, p. 271

“Human wisdom culminates in this insight that life and death are two sides of the same coin. And cosmic wisdom is truly spoken of only when identified with both sides of the coin.”

- Kahn, ‘Art and Thought of #Heraclitus,’ 1979, p. 271

“Thus the linguistic forms of #antithesis and #paradox combine with ambiguity and resonance for the expression of a total view, no part of which is fully intelligible in separation from the whole.”

- Kahn, ‘Art and Thought of #Heraclitus,’ 1979, p. 271