Heraclitus on Change

All is

Fire

All is

Water

All is

Earth

All is

Fire

Heraclitus of Ephesus is very clearly of this opinion that everything will change into fire… fire is turned by way of air into moisture, the seed, as it were, of creation, which he calls sea; and from this, again, comes earth and heaven and what they contain. He shows clearly in the followng words that they are restored again and become fire: Sea is dissolved and measured in the same proportion as before it became earth.

(Barnes, p.59)

All is

Fire

Unity of

Opposites

Beginning is together with end.A road: uphill, downhill, one and the

same.Sea is the purest and most polluted

water: for fish drinkable and healthy, for men undrinkable and harmful. 

Beginning is together with end.A road: uphill, downhill, one and the

same.Sea is the purest and most polluted

water: for fish drinkable and healthy, for men undrinkable and harmful. 

Unity of

Opposites

Theoryof

Flux

Substantial change involves old things going out of existence or new things coming into existence.Qualitative change involves having different properties at different times.Intrinsic change is change in what a thing is like, in and of itself.Extrinsic change is change in how one thing relates to something outside itself.

The Theory of Flux: No material things exist for more than a

moment.

For it is not possible to step twice into the same river, according to Heraclitus, nor to touch mortal substance twice in any condition: by the swiftness and speed of its change, it scatters and collects itself again—or rather, it is not again and later but simultaneously that it comes together and departs, approaches and retires.

Plutarch, On the E at Delphi

Heraclitus’ Flux Argument1. A river is nothing more than a body of

flowing water.2. The same body of flowing water does

not exist for more than a moment.3. If (1) and (2), then the same river does

not exist for more than a moment.

Heraclitus’ Flux Argument1. A river is nothing more than a body of

flowing water.2. The same body of flowing water does

not exist for more than a moment.3. If (1) and (2), then the same river does

not exist for more than a moment.

Heraclitus’ Flux Argument1. A river is nothing more than a body of

flowing water.2. The same body of flowing water does not

exist for more than a moment.3. If (1) and (2), then the same river does

not exist for more than a moment. 4. What goes for a river goes for you and me

and all other material things.5. If (1)-(4), then The Theory of Flux is true.6. The Theory of Flux is true.

All is

Water