Heraclitus

Heraclitus, the philosopher of bitter paradox and hard metaphor, who found in change itself the one unchanging attribute of reality. He was frequently described by such epithets as the Dark, the Obscure, and the Riddling .His work has survived only as fragments, mostly in the form of short sentences or aphorisms. The first compilation of these was made in Germany over a century ago, and this is the first book written in English to introduce him to the general reader. The more than one hundred fragments are arranged topically in groups to preface eight chapters, which examine the various aspects of Heraclitus' thought : his speculations on the universe in its composition and functioning, and on man in his relation to his environment, his fellow man, and his own soul. Most interesting among Professor Wheelwright's many accomplishments in this book is his success in helping the reader strip off any twentieth-century preconceptions and take part in the adventure of a brilliant Greek mind exploring reality with the resources of the late sixth century B.C. 'HERACLITUS provides an excellent introduction to the present state of Heraclitean studies. The translated fragments are topically arranged, interpreted and annotated.' - Hibbert Journal . ' . . . these aphorisms about life and the cosmos have lost none of their piercing, haunting quality, their uncanny appeal to the imagination . . . peculiarly in key with the desperate uncertainties of our own age . . . This book presents the fragments in a fresh translation, examines the various aspects of Heraclitus's thought and makes them accessible to a wider audience than is reached by more specialized works.' - Scientific American . . . 'Wheelwright's remarkably revealing enterprise must not escape the attention of any interested party, of whatever scholarly persuasion.' - The Classical Journal . . . 'will interest both literary and philosophical readers, since it stresses the wedding of content and linguistic form and the attitude of searching out the hidden harmony of things.' - James Collins in Cross Currents.

Author: Philip Wheelwright

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Released Date: 1959