Thread by @Burnest137

Philosophical inquiry begins with Heraclitus. He stands at the true beginning of philosophy because he discovered the problem that makes philosophy unavoidable. Heraclitus major accomplishment is his break with myth through the discovery of logos

the claim that reality possesses a rational order independent of custom, poetry, or divine narrative, even though most human beings live unaware of it. Born in Ephesus roughly 500 BCE Heraclitus brought philosophy into light.

By insisting that all things are in flux and that becoming, rather than stability, is the fundamental condition of existence, Heraclitus exposed the central crisis of knowledge, if everything changes, on what basis can truth endure?

Heraclitus insistence that conflict is the source of order, captured in the quote “war is the father of all things”, he does not celebrate violence but reveals that harmony itself arises from tension, a tragic insight into the structure of both nature and political life.

He believed few awaken to logos and the many live as sheep, a division that inaugurates the conflict between philosophy and the city. This aphoristic, guarded speech anticipates the tradition of esoteric writing, born from the notion, truth can be dangerous.

He viewed the world in constant change, always "becoming" but never "being". He lamented this in sayings like "Everything flows" and "No man ever steps in the same river twice

Heraclitus lasting achievement is that he posed, without solving, the questions that Plato would later confront, how is knowledge possible in a world in flux, how justice can exist amid conflict, and how wisdom can survive within political life.

And in the age of generative AI we post moderns, must again wrestle with the same questions. What is truth? And to what degree do I believe it to be true?

And we must always ask the hardest question. Why? Why did I find truth when my critics, my similarly well informed critics believe otherwise.

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