§20 [58-59]
49
To resolve an ontological problem, that of opposition, by means of physics. The theory of opposition is not a side issue but is the genuine problem. Not a question in cosmogony: to lead over, by mechanical processes, from the original state to the current configuration of the world.
Change occurs by force of law, of ταὐτόν ["the same"].33 Heraclitus's principle is not fire but, rather, ἕν τὸ σοφόν, λόγος ["one thing is wise, logos"]. Fire is only a form of appearance of cosmic reason [Weltvernunft]. πῦρ-πάντα ῥεῖ["fire-all things are flowing"]; instead, {?): is change and permanence. This Unity in what is opposed is θεός God"].35 Not πάντα ῥεῖ; no single fragment says: everything is mere transition and change, nowhere duration and perseverance. On the contrary, perseverance in change, ταὐτόν ["sameness"] in μεταπίπτειν ["alteration"], μέτρον ["measure"] in μεταβάλλειν ["change"]. Everything in the world is ταὐτόν; warm cold, the cold warm.
§20. The main themes of Heraclitean thought36
Opposition and unity, ἕν τὸ σοφόν ["one thing is wise"] (frag. 32), παλίντονος ἁρμονίη, counter-striving concord" (frag. 51). Fire as symbol. Reason [Vernunft]: λόγος. Soul: ψυχή.
Text: 126 fragments.37 In what follows, a selection of the ones philosophically important for our problematic
a) The question of oppositionality and unity.
The principle38 is the One, the All-wise, θεός. Frags. 108, 67, 78, 102. Frag. 56: what is not to be seen or grasped as a being, as something present-at-hand, but can be apprehended only in the understanding and is different from all beings. Everything is opposition and tension; therefore oppositionality is not to be avoided in order to fasten onto one of the members. Instead, the entire oppositionality itself Frags. 60, 61, 62. Frag. 126: everything becomes its opposite. Frag. 111.
Everything is harmony, ταὐτόν (and measure, limit). Frags. 88, 54, 51. Frag. 103: κύκλος ["circle"]. Frag. 8.
Fire as symbol: frag. 90. Everlasting perdurance in change: frag. 30.
33. Cf. frag. 88.
34. The passage could not be deciphered.
35. Cf. the explication in §20a.
36. See Morchen transcription, no. 25, p. 182ff.
37. In Diels 1, 4th ed., 12 B; 6th ed., 22 B.
38. See Morchen transcription, no. 25, p. 183f.