Remembering Heraclitus: Themes COSP
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when to apply a virtue and how much or how little for the right amount of tension.
Conclusion
The idea of a philosophical life beginning from a shipwreck is not novel. Many observers through the
years have found the analogy quite compelling. Vidauskytė (2017) notes that not only is a shipwreck a
metaphor for the initiation of a philosophical life, but that seafaring also signifies the human discontent
with staying on land and the desire to transcend the human domain of land and venture out to the
beyond. She rightly observes Diogenes Laertius's commentary on Zeno of Citium, who survived a
shipwreck and traded his lost cargo of purple dye for living a philosophical life on dry land. But not
everyone’s fate is a shipwreck. Our character is defined by our fate, through the endless flux of
impediments and obstacles. And sometimes, the monotony and recurring nature of existence forces us
to wonder what our ultimate aim is. Perhaps after enough voyages and challenges, we arrive at true
wisdom and begin to see the Cosmos as it really is – we lose our common ego and pivot to a desire to
be at one with Nature. With enough practice of taking the Cosmic perspective, laying aside our ego,
perhaps we achieve transcendence, return to land, and dry our soul by a flaming, wise fire.
References:
Agar, J. (2014, October 4). The Prisoner’s Dilemma. www.youtube.com.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Lo2fgxWHw&ab_channel=ThisPlace
Agar, J. (2016, July 2). The Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma and The Evolution of Cooperation. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOvAbjfJ0x0&ab_channel=ThisPlace
Aurelius, M. (2014). Meditations (M. Hammond, Trans.). Penguin Classics, An Imprint Of Penguin
Books.
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ISSUE 56
A publication of the College of Stoic Philosophers
July 2024
Darabont, F. (Director). (1994, September 10). The Shawshank Redemption. Columbia Pictures.
Geldard, R. G. (2001). Remembering Heraclitus. Lindisfarne Books.
Long, A. A. (1986). Hellenistic philosophy : Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics. University Of California
Press.
Robinson, T. M. (1991). Heraclitus : Fragments. University Toronto P.
Sweet, D. (2007). Heraclitus : Translation and Analysis. University Press of America.
Vidauskytė, L. (2017). Metaphor of Existence: Seafaring and Shipwreck. [Egzistencijos metafora:
kelionė jūra ir laivo nuskendimas] Filosifija Sociologija., 28(1), 11-19.
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