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ISSUE 64
A publication of the College of Stoic Philosophers
April 2025
On Heraclitus
Welcome to the Logos
Ralph Kurz
Introduction
This essay is a short version of my essay for the excellent course: “On Heraclitus”.
Heraclitus, known as ‘the Riddler’, was a pre-Socratic philosopher who lived in the Greek city of Ephesus
around 500 BC . In his fragments, Heraclitus describes several concepts of his worldview in his own unique
and paradoxical way: Fire, flux, Logos, the common, unity of opposites, etc. Here I will only present parts of
his idea of Logos that give hints (more is not possible), as to what Logos is and how to recognize it.
To understand Heraclitus' thinking, we have to knock on his door, metaphorically speaking, and enter his world.
All Heraclitus fragments in this essay are taken from this source, unless otherwise stated, and are cited only by
fragment number.
Knocking on Heraclitus’ door
“Come into this smoky cabin; God is here also: approve yourself to him.”
(Character, 1860, p. 360)
Imagine knocking on Heraclitus’ door, opening it and standing in a smoky hut. Then Heraclitus, who is
standing at his stove in front of the fire, says “Come in, God is here too!”. Would you go in? For Heraclitus, the
divine is present everywhere. We can avoid Heraclitus, who lived a modest life, but not the work of the divine.
We can be put off by the smoke in the hut, but this divine does not care. Perhaps it
is precisely this smoke and the darkness that we need to face up to and reduce our
sensual perception and learn to see the essence of things. Not the essence of things
as we would like them to be, but as they really are.
Little by little, I would like to clear away some of the smoke that obscures the idea
of the (divine) Logos of the ancient “enigmatic genius”
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Heraclitus,
so that we can better recognize the essentials together.
A word about the word
Logos is a word of great importance in ancient Greek philosophy.
The root of the word logos is “leg” (Geldard, 2000, p. 33). The
verb on which logos is based is “légō” and means something like
“(lay) down”, “collect”, “read”, “tell”. In English, a Greek heritage
can be recognized in the word collect (Brann, 2011, p. 10). In
Homer and Hesiod we find logos in the meaning of “word”,
“discourse” or “narrative (account)” (Mitevski, 1994). The
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ISSUE 64
A publication of the College of Stoic Philosophers
April 2025
development of meaning from “collect” to “speak” results when language is understood as a 'collection of
words'. (Etymology Online, n.d.). In this way, language becomes a “vehicle for human reason” (Brann, 2011, p.
10).
Logos in Heraclitus
“Therefore it is necessary to obey the universal; but although the Logos is universal, most
people live as though they had a private understanding.” (Heraclitus, trans. Burnett, 1920,
Fragment 2)
The word logos is not an invention of Heraclitus. As shown above, it has the meanings of “word” or “language”
as an expression of rational thought to bring order to what we experience. Upon entering Heraclitus' world of
thought, however, a new, infinite depth of meaning of the word Logos opens up. A picture of Heraclitus’ Logos
only emerges when we engage with all the facets that describe the Logos.
Heraclitus’ words are, logically, also logoi. However, they are word orderings that appear to us as paradoxes or
riddles due to his intentional principle of order. In this way, his logoi enable us to better understand the Logos.
He challenges us to leave our own private world of concepts and relationships and to see it anew. In this way, in
addition to the original meanings, we can understand the Logos that we all share as a universal ordering
principle, as a force that unites opposites, through which everything is in flux and also manifests itself as the
eternal creative fire of the cosmos. We will now look at these levels of meaning before we delve deeper into
how Logos can be (better) understood.
Logos as a universal organizing principle
“The Logos, (which is) as I describe, proves incomprehensible, both before it is heard and
even after it is heard. For although all
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things happen according to the Logos, many act as if
they have no experience of it, even when they do experience such words and action as I
explain, as when I separate out each thing according to its nature and state how it is; but as to
the rest, they fail to notice what they do after they wake up, just as they forget what they do
when they sleep.” (1)
The fragment that we know as the first fragment of Heraclitus already describes a great deal of what constitutes
the Logos. “all things happen according to the Logos” i.e. it is a universal principle of order. If we add a
fragment from fragment 31 “It (Fire) becomes liquid sea, and is measured (metron) by the same tale (Logos) as
before it became earth.”, Logos can also be understood here as “measure” (metron, as in metronome) (Geldard,
2000, p. 34). For Heraclitus, fire is the primordial cosmic element, not as a physical phenomenon but as a
metaphysical principle. Logos functions as the principle that gives measure and order to the universe and is the
organizing principle that regulates the rhythmic flaring up and extinguishing of fire. Logos is the principle
behind the finely tuned laws of nature that make our lives possible.
Recognizing the Logos
Heraclitus’ idea is that there is a Logos that expresses itself as words uttered by reason, but also as a principle
that organizes opposites, or cosmic, eternal fire. It is the Logos that relates everything to everything else and
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A publication of the College of Stoic Philosophers
April 2025
creates harmony. “Logos is nature and its language” (Brann, 2011, p. 125). But how can we hear, experience or
recognize the Logos?
Insight into the wise and the alone
Heraclitus has a special idea of wisdom or what the Wise is. In fragment 41 we learn that “Wisdom is one thing
(en to sophon). It is to know the thought by which all things are steered through all things”. This “One
Wisdom” manifests itself as Logos in everything, but at the same time goes beyond each individual
manifestation. This becomes particularly clear in fragment 32: “The wise is one (en to sophon) only . It is
unwilling and willing to be called by the name of Zeus.”. This paradoxical formulation shows: The “One Wise
One” needs names and manifestations (is “willing”), but at the same time transcends them (is “unwilling”).
Logos is the manifestation of the “One Wise One” in everything, but the “One Wise One” itself remains
transcendent.
He is concerned with a special wisdom. It becomes clear in fragment 78 that only the divine way makes such
insights possible: “The way (ethos) of man has no wisdom (gnome), but that of God has.”. This is not about
religious knowledge of God in the traditional sense, but about a philosophical path of knowledge that goes
beyond ordinary understanding. When we take the “divine path”, we are not looking for the mythological Zeus,
but for what is hidden behind the symbol of Zeus: Fire, consciousness, Logos - the universal principle in
everything.
The One Sage acts IN everything as Logos (immanence), but is at the same time separate FROM everything
(transcendence). This becomes clear in fragment 108: “Of all whose discourses (logoi) I have heard, there is not
one who attains to understanding that
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wisdom (sophos) is apart from all.”. This tension between immanence
and transcendence is fundamental to Heraclitus’ thinking: The One Wisdom permeates everything as Logos,
but at the same time remains separate from everything in its essence.
If we listen properly, are not asleep but open to knowledge, and abandon dualistic thinking and surrender to
paradoxical nature, we can recognize the wise principles that Logos brings with it and through which
everything is guided. “The wise is one only”. Everything is one. All One. Alone.
How does one learn that “All is One”?
If we take a look at fragment 1 (see above), it becomes clear that Heraclitus is of the opinion that we cannot
gain an understanding of the Logos, neither before we have experienced it nor afterwards. The sleeping are
particularly unfortunate: “but as to the rest, they fail to notice what they do after they wake up, just as they
forget what they do when they sleep” (1) and “… the sleeping turn aside each into a world of his own.” (89).
Living in their private world (see fragment 2), the sleeping never experiences the waking experience, because
“The waking have one common world…” (89). So can it only be experienced directly? Awake, without
indulging in memories or dreams? For the Logos works always and everywhere. Things become and pass away
in the “AllOne”. Here and now.
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April 2025
Understanding the right thing
So what is to be “done” in order to be counted among the awake? How do we arrive at this right apprehension
of the Logos? We can make a start with fragment 116 (following Brann, 2011, p. 26):“It pertains to all men to
know themselves and to learn self-control (sophroneo)” (116)
This echoes the inscriptions from the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, which did not yet exist in Heraclitus’ time:
“Know thyself” and “Nothing in excess”. It is given to all people to be self-controlled and to do nothing in
excess. Let’s add fragment 112: “Self-control (sophroneo) is the highest virtue, and wisdom (sophos) is to speak
(legein) truth and consciously to act according to nature”.
Sophroneo can have several meanings, in addition to being self-controlled it can also mean prudent,
dispassionate or wise. Self-control could then be understood to mean that one should encourage oneself to
apply Heraclitus’ method of “dividing each thing according to its kind (physis) and showing how it truly is”
(part of 1) and to leave out everything private and egotistical. This is the work of the philo-sophos: “Men that
love wisdom (philosophos) must be acquainted with very many things (historias) indeed.” (35) In order to
understand the wisdom of Logos, one must be knowledgeable about many things.
However, Heraclitus also emphasizes that “The learning of many things (polymathia) teacheth not
understanding” (40). By this he means that there are two different kinds of knowledge and that the most
important is the one that gets to the bottom of things, because polymathy does not lead to the understanding of
the Logos that Heraclitus is concerned with.
The polymath does not achieve a deep understanding like
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the “polyhistor” – a word composed of poly/much
and historias/exploration. The polyhistor Heraclitus knows that self-knowledge is possible for all people (116)
and therefore recommends searching in a special place in order to understand the Logos. The problem is
“Nature loves to hide” (123) - but we’ll solve that in a moment.
Searching in the right place
“I have searched for myself” (101)
Heraclitus searches in his self and finds that the content of the soul resembles the Logos: “You will not find the
boundaries of soul by traveling in any direction, so deep is the measure (Logos) of it” (45). Thus the soul
becomes a mirror of the cosmos (Brann, 2011, p. 127), in the soul one recognizes the reflections of the various
manifestations of Logos. He has also recognized within himself that the more one recognizes, the more
knowledge increases: “To the soul, belongs the self-multiplying Logos.” (115).
In order to understand the Logos, however, we must also leave our private sphere. And this in several senses:
(1) we must be open and not dream, for dreaming is the “most private and spiritless state” (Brann, 2011, p.
131). We must (2) recognize that there is a common law, a nomos/Logos, which equalizes all “private wisdom”
and (3) this Logos is not just a “private thing”, but everyone has this Logos quality in their soul, so that we have
this in common with other people, even if it is hidden from one another. “So we must follow the common, yet
though my Word (Logos) is common, the many live as if they had a wisdom of their own.” (2) We should
therefore follow this common, because the Logos also belongs to the common.
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April 2025
It is precisely thinking and understanding that everything has in common: “Thought (phroneein) is common to
all.” (113) . He makes this clear in fragment 114, when he says “Those who speak with understanding must
hold fast to what is common to all as a city holds fast to its law, and even more strongly. For all human laws
(nomoi) are fed by the one divine law. It prevails as much as it will, and suffices for all things with something
to spare” So whoever wants to express sensibly in words what concerns the understanding of the Logos should
hold even more strongly to what is common than a city holds fast to the politically common law (Geldard,
2000, p.75 & Brann, 2011, p. 130). Further dimensions of the common are expressed here: the human
community or human nature. But all this commonality is also nourished by the divine law, certainly the Logos.
With the idea of the common, one also understands what distinguishes the waking from the sleeping: “The
waking have one common world, but the sleeping turn aside each into a world of his own.” (89) and this also
closes the circle that I opened in the section on “Insight into the wise”: when we recognize this common, we no
longer sleep.With this understanding of the 'common', we can now better recognize the depth of the Logos
concept.
The Logos of Heraclitus is something that relates everything to everything else - internally and externally.
Forming the cosmos through fire, the Logos brings the individual parts into form (informs them) and continues
to work in them through certain laws. In this way it becomes a kind of SuperLogos (Brann, 2011, p. 124).
So with man: the Logos has brought us into this world. This gives us an outside. At the same time, it
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has given
us an “inside” in which we can perceive it and its laws. On the one hand, we emerge from it and on the other,
we merge with it, so that one could think that we produce ourselves. Like the fire.For Heraclitus, what must the
soul be like for such knowledge to be possible?
Preserving the nature of the soul
“The dry soul is the wisest and best.” (118)
Let’s start with this: Drunks have a wet soul: “A man, when he gets drunk, is led by a beardless lad, tripping,
knowing not where he steps, having his soul moist.” (117). For a soul, however, it is death to be wet: “For it is
death to souls to become water, and death to water to become earth. But water comes from earth; and from
water, soul.” (36) But it is the normal cycle of a soul’s transformation in Heraclitus’ world. However, the soul
also takes pleasure in becoming intoxicated: “For souls it is pleasure or death to become wet.” (77). The soul
can therefore become wet and thus unreceptive to the knowledge of the Logos (117) if it indulges in false
pleasures.
Since “water is always flowing in” (“You cannot step twice into the same rivers; for fresh waters are ever
flowing in upon you” (12)), we as humans face a special challenge: we are in this flux that impairs our ability to
perceive the Logos, but at the same time this is a manifestation of the Logos. Wonderfully paradoxical.
So how do we keep our souls dry? That is the constant work of the philosopher. Constant because even when
we notice the Logos, we are already out of cognition again (“before it is heard and even after it is heard” (part
of 1) and we get wet “for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you” (part of 12).
This constant work influences man’s character. “Man’s character (ethos) is his fate (daimon)”. (119) This is a
difficult fragment. It
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says “Ethos is daimon for a man”. Daimon can mean God, divinity, the power of fate or
also spiritual being (of man). The daimon appears again in fragment 79: “Man is called a baby by God
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April 2025
(daimon), even as a child by a man.” Ethos is also heavy with meaning. It can mean essence, character or habit.
(see fragment 78 “The way (ethos) of man has no wisdom (gnome), but that of God has.”). What then do we
have before us with fragment 119? The essence/character/habit of man is his destiny/divinity/spiritual being.
“In the circumference of a circle the beginning and end are common.” (103)
I introduced this essay with a story about standing in front of Heraclitus’ door, knocking and him answering
“Come in, God is present here too!”. He knew that no one can hide from God and the Logos, because the
“divine law” (from 114) is always at work in everything. You only have to step inside or you can stay outside;
and you can recognize that you are already inside, even if you think you are not.
References
Brann, Eva (2011). The logos of Heraclitus. Paul Dry Books
Heraclitus. (1920). Fragments of Heraclitus (J. Burnett, Trans.). Wikisource.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Fragments_of_Heraclitus
Character. (1866). The North American Review, 102(211), 356–373. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25107917
Etymology Online. (n.d.). Logos. Retrieved March 23, 2025, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/logos
Geldard, Richard (2000). Remembering Heraclitus. Floris Books
Mitevski, Vitomor (1994). Heraclitus’ Logos as a Principle of Change.
https://antiquitasviva.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/44.1-2.05.-mitevski-v.-heraclitus-logos-as-a-principle-o
f-change.pdf
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