Issue #35

Abstract: Heraclitus of Ephesus draws an undying attention of all philosophical scholars. Profound studies deconstructing and reconstructing his enigmatic intellectual heritage come along on a regular basis. Yet the question remains, do they really succeed in showing him as a philosopher rather, than a great and provocative predecessor of purely philosophical trials which emerge from the chaotic whirls of mythology and metaphoric thought only but later, however significant his contribution to this transgression might be? Heraclitus-prophet, Heraclitus-riddler, Heraclitus-key to a certain “antique mind”, an enchanted and charming figure of paradox and playful strangeness, is still a lot closer to us than Heraclitus-rational and critical thinker. Also we often take him for a classical “friend of wisdom and truth, and thus an enemy to opinion”, ignoring or just not really seeing how hardly he battled (even before Plato) all forms of philosophical dogmatism and loosely based metaphysical approach, some of those, through a bitter irony of history, will be later associated with his own name and lecture.