The only surviving texts by Heraclitus are called “Fragments” which are surviving pieces of supposedly the only written book by him. All of these were scattered from others sources such as citations and paraphrasing of his text. For II and III Kahn refers to fragments 2 and 3 of his ordering of the fragments (there is a debate about the ordering except for I where there are 2 other sources of his time that declare that fragment as the beginning of Heraclitus’ book).
They appear in the screenshot, but I will paste them as text below:
II (D. 34) Not comprehending, they hear like the deaf. The saying bears witness to them: absent while present.
III (D. 2) Although the account (logos) is shared, most men live as though their thinking (phronesis) were a private possession.
The D. # refers to the Diels-Kranz numbering, which is what’s been used as the default before and even after Kahn’s. If you have any doubt about the meaning let me know, but I’d argue reading Heraclitus is really good for understanding dialectics and his philosophy still holds true in some way until today.
yo been a while cde, i wanted to ask: have you read any other ancient greek/roman authors? i’m looking at iamblichus and his work on pythagoras, and lucretius and his works. i’m not really acquainted (i only read socratic dialogues and not the mid or later platonic works, and parts of aristotle like organon and working through nicomachean & eudemian ethics) and i’m wondering if you have any tips or advice (｡◕‿◕｡)
I’ve read Aeschylus, some Plato, not that much. But I’d say it depends on what you want to learn from that. If you ask me, I’d be interested in the Greeks by how were they later interpreted by authors like Kant, Spinoza, Hegel, etc. So I’d say go for Hesiod, Homer, since both of them provide the background for all the Greeks after them and then go for the Milesians, and the other presocratics (which includes Heraclitus) and then Plato and so on. I wouldnt bother with the Romans but maybe thats just ignorance from my part. I dont know if my naswer was good enough but let me know, i am currently to start to read some other greek text so maybe we could help each other!
The only surviving texts by Heraclitus are called “Fragments” which are surviving pieces of supposedly the only written book by him. All of these were scattered from others sources such as citations and paraphrasing of his text. For II and III Kahn refers to fragments 2 and 3 of his ordering of the fragments (there is a debate about the ordering except for I where there are 2 other sources of his time that declare that fragment as the beginning of Heraclitus’ book).
They appear in the screenshot, but I will paste them as text below:
The D. # refers to the Diels-Kranz numbering, which is what’s been used as the default before and even after Kahn’s. If you have any doubt about the meaning let me know, but I’d argue reading Heraclitus is really good for understanding dialectics and his philosophy still holds true in some way until today.
yo been a while cde, i wanted to ask: have you read any other ancient greek/roman authors? i’m looking at iamblichus and his work on pythagoras, and lucretius and his works. i’m not really acquainted (i only read socratic dialogues and not the mid or later platonic works, and parts of aristotle like organon and working through nicomachean & eudemian ethics) and i’m wondering if you have any tips or advice (｡◕‿◕｡)
I’ve read Aeschylus, some Plato, not that much. But I’d say it depends on what you want to learn from that. If you ask me, I’d be interested in the Greeks by how were they later interpreted by authors like Kant, Spinoza, Hegel, etc. So I’d say go for Hesiod, Homer, since both of them provide the background for all the Greeks after them and then go for the Milesians, and the other presocratics (which includes Heraclitus) and then Plato and so on. I wouldnt bother with the Romans but maybe thats just ignorance from my part. I dont know if my naswer was good enough but let me know, i am currently to start to read some other greek text so maybe we could help each other!