Document Type : Original Article
Author
Faculty of Arts - Ain shams university
Abstract
The interpretation of the concept of the Logos “ὁ λόγος” in the writings of Heraclitus remained one of the most complex issues in Greek thought, and even its other concepts such as the universe “κόσμος” and fire “Πῦρ” met with differences in interpretation among researchers, as they presented many interpretations and translations that failed to find any kind of intellectual unity. The writings of Heraclitus
When Kirk - one of the most prominent scholars who delved deeply into the study of Heraclitus's fragments - examined Heraclitus's words, he often used words that expressed possibility in his interpretation - those possibilities that many researchers relied on in interpreting Heraclitus's thought. Then Kirk stopped at a few words that did not... He finds an explanation for it even from the point of view of suspicion and possibility. This matter was faced by Plato, Aristotle, Demetrius of Phaleria, and others who expressed the difficulty of understanding Heraclitus's phrases, so they called him "the Dark One
A number of researchers presented many hypotheses about the nature of the first matter and its relationship with other existents. Some of them associated the logos with God, the logos with fire, and the fire with the world. These hypotheses increased the mystery of Heraclitus and made his ideas a historical problem that drowns those who address it in seas of details
Heraclitus presented a vision of the universe that differed from many of its predecessors and successors, in which he depicted the universe and its divine order Which proceeds without actual intervention from the Supreme God, but this system is subject to the will of the Supreme God. Heraclitus distinguished in this system between matter and the spirit responsible for movement, and the divine word, which represented an element to which creation is indirectly attributed, in addition to its role in preserving the cosmic order, and teaching humans divine wisdom, this perception that presents the highest levels of perfection and authenticity in the thought of the first naturalists, and the legacy of the Seven Sages
The researcher assumes that Heraclitus - as a prophet - wanted to separate two worlds, the divine world and the human world. He introduced the word logos in its common meaning of “the word” at the time, but the function of the human word is not equivalent to the divine word, neither in action nor effect, and the perceived universe differs from the divine element. Responsible for the system of the universe and the movement of its parts (the living, rational fire). Heraclitus expressed the divine elements that control the universe, those elements responsible for its system, and he defined the functions of each element without comparing them as the moderns did. He did not even mention a single role for the Supreme Creator with... Acknowledging his existence, Heraclitus expressed this in a different and simple linguistic style that relies on symbols and signs, but it provides clarity to his ideas, and this linguistic style is the researcher’s own proof that he presents to prove his hypothesis.
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