0:00:00.000,0:00:10.000 [MUSIC] 0:00:20.581,0:00:24.830 Heraclitus was known in[br]antiquity as the riddler. 0:00:24.830,0:00:29.590 He had a reputation both for[br]obscurity and profundity. 0:00:29.590,0:00:35.201 The one book he wrote was widely quoted in[br]antiquity, and from the evidence we have, 0:00:35.201,0:00:39.482 it was full of oracular pronouncement and[br]deliberate paradox. 0:00:39.482,0:00:44.335 Socrates is reported to have said upon[br]reading the book, the parts that I 0:00:44.335,0:00:50.000 understood were very impressive, and so[br]were the parts that I didn't understand. 0:00:50.000,0:00:52.368 So, what was the book about? 0:00:52.368,0:00:56.199 In a word, it is about the LOGOS. 0:00:56.199,0:01:01.145 Now Logos is a term that we've[br]noted has a range of meanings. 0:01:01.145,0:01:05.510 From the very general sense in which[br]a LOGOS is a word or anything said, 0:01:05.510,0:01:10.247 to the more restricted sense in which[br]it's a particular way of using words. 0:01:10.247,0:01:16.469 Specifically, to give an explanation,[br]or reason, or to figure something out. 0:01:16.469,0:01:21.833 So, let's see where Heraclitus' LOGOS[br]fits into this range of meanings. 0:01:21.833,0:01:27.266 Not surprisingly, he turns out[br]to have exploited most of them. 0:01:27.266,0:01:33.884 Let's look at the opening lines[br]of the book, which is 22B1. 0:01:33.884,0:01:41.156 This LOGOS holds always, but humans[br]always prove unable to understand it, 0:01:41.156,0:01:46.740 both before hearing it and[br]when they have first heard it. 0:01:46.740,0:01:51.140 Now, here we might think the LOGOS[br]is the book of Heraclitus itself. 0:01:51.140,0:01:54.100 And, that the philosopher is making the[br]perennial complaint of the misunderstood 0:01:54.100,0:01:58.520 artist that his brilliant work is not[br]appreciated by the general public. 0:01:59.670,0:02:04.332 Now, there is some truth to this,[br]I think, but as we read on, 0:02:04.332,0:02:10.269 it seems that the Logos can't simply be[br]the book that Heraclitus has written. 0:02:10.269,0:02:14.292 For although all things come to[br]be in accordance with this LOGOs, 0:02:14.624,0:02:19.788 humans are like the inexperienced when[br]they experience such words and deeds as I 0:02:19.788,0:02:25.267 set out, distinguishing each according[br]to its nature and saying how it is. 0:02:26.072,0:02:27.245 Heraclitus, here, 0:02:27.246,0:02:28.328 distinguishes between 0:02:28.328,0:02:29.471 the words he has written 0:02:29.471,0:02:31.640 down and the LOGOS. 0:02:31.640,0:02:33.949 The LOGOS is not what he says, but 0:02:33.949,0:02:38.489 a principle that governs everything[br]that comes to be or happens, 0:02:38.489,0:02:43.459 even if people don't understand it[br]when he tries to explain it to them. 0:02:43.459,0:02:48.265 And that they don't understand is[br]a constant refrain in the book. 0:02:48.265,0:02:53.438 Our quote from the opening ends by[br]contrasting Heraclitus' own insight 0:02:53.438,0:02:58.969 with the stupidity of other people who[br]fail to notice what they do when awake. 0:02:58.969,0:03:02.823 Just as they forget what[br]they do while asleep. 0:03:02.823,0:03:07.743 Heraclitus regularly appeals to[br]the distinction between sleeping and 0:03:07.743,0:03:12.417 waking experience to make the point[br]that those who do not understand 0:03:12.417,0:03:17.010 the Logos are like sleepers who[br]mistake their dreams for reality. 0:03:17.010,0:03:19.921 So Heraclitus is giving a wake up call, 0:03:19.921,0:03:25.054 inviting us to understand the true[br]reality behind our experiences. 0:03:25.054,0:03:29.210 That reality is expressed in the LOGOS. 0:03:29.210,0:03:31.765 But what does the LOGOS say? 0:03:31.765,0:03:36.692 Nothing very straightforward, obviously,[br]or else it wouldn't be so hard for 0:03:36.692,0:03:37.360 us to get. 0:03:37.360,0:03:41.938 The closest thing we have to a clear[br]statement of the LOGOS is in fragment B50. 0:03:41.938,0:03:45.610 Llisten not to me but 0:03:45.610,0:03:49.600 to the LOGOS; it is wise to[br]agree that all things are one. 0:03:49.600,0:03:52.810 Now when he says don't listen to me but 0:03:52.810,0:03:56.770 to the LOGOS,[br]he means look I'm not making this up. 0:03:56.770,0:04:01.830 When he says it is wise to[br]agree that all things are one, 0:04:01.830,0:04:05.246 he is telling us what the LOGOS says. 0:04:05.246,0:04:09.843 So, the LOGOS is that all things are one. 0:04:09.843,0:04:14.023 But what does that mean,[br]that there is only one thing? 0:04:14.023,0:04:15.532 How could that be true? 0:04:15.532,0:04:19.084 I'm here, you're here, and[br]that makes at least two things. 0:04:19.084,0:04:22.281 Or, will Heraclitus roll his[br]eyes at this objection and 0:04:22.281,0:04:27.109 say that's just the sort of response you'd[br]get from people who can't tell that they 0:04:27.109,0:04:29.022 are dreaming rather than awake. 0:04:29.022,0:04:33.642 You see inviting us to wake up and realize[br]that there really is no difference between 0:04:33.642,0:04:37.474 the things that seem pretty obviously[br]different and distinct to us. 0:04:37.474,0:04:41.259 Well, at least for some things, yes. 0:04:41.259,0:04:44.330 For instance, here's some more quotes. 0:04:44.330,0:04:49.305 The road up and[br]the road down are the same, hint. 0:04:49.305,0:04:53.206 The track of writing is both straight and[br]crooked. 0:04:53.206,0:04:54.970 That's one of my favorites. 0:04:54.970,0:05:00.334 The beginning and the end are common[br]on the circumference of a circle. 0:05:00.334,0:05:05.035 These are just a few of the many[br]fragments in which Heraclitus proclaims 0:05:05.035,0:05:07.787 what people call the unity of opposites. 0:05:07.787,0:05:11.525 Now we might say, okay,[br]so what's the big deal? 0:05:11.525,0:05:14.935 The same thing can have opposite[br]properties depending on your frame of 0:05:14.935,0:05:15.930 reference. 0:05:15.930,0:05:19.549 What's so hard to understand about that? 0:05:19.549,0:05:26.345 But consider another unity that Heraclitus[br]invokes when he castigates Hesiod as, 0:05:26.345,0:05:32.087 quote, a man who could not recognize[br]day and night, for they are one. 0:05:32.087,0:05:36.452 What does it mean to say that day and[br]night are one? 0:05:36.452,0:05:39.380 When it's day here,[br]it's night in Australia? 0:05:39.380,0:05:42.982 My apologies to anyone who is[br]taking this course from Australia. 0:05:42.982,0:05:48.398 More likely, he meant that day and night[br]are different phases of the same thing, 0:05:48.398,0:05:52.540 where that thing is the complex[br]system comprising the Earth, 0:05:52.540,0:05:55.427 the Sun, and the other celestial bodies. 0:05:55.427,0:06:00.928 Even though night and day are completely[br]opposite in our experience of them, 0:06:00.928,0:06:04.312 as different as night and[br]day, as we would say, 0:06:04.312,0:06:09.660 we can understand them as expressions[br]of a deeper underlying regularity. 0:06:09.660,0:06:14.495 On this way of understanding[br]Heraclitus' Logos, his point in claiming 0:06:14.495,0:06:18.934 that all things are one is not to[br]deny that there is multiplicity and 0:06:18.934,0:06:21.311 variety in the world, but rather, 0:06:21.311,0:06:27.350 to insist that there is an underlying[br]order to that multiplicity and variety. 0:06:27.350,0:06:29.580 This is what is not obvious. 0:06:29.580,0:06:32.680 And what most people,[br]the sleepers fail to see. 0:06:33.740,0:06:39.110 What the sleepers fail to understand[br]is a deep truth about the world that 0:06:39.110,0:06:43.660 though at variance with[br]itself It agrees with itself. 0:06:43.660,0:06:49.210 It is a backwards-turning attunement[br]like that of the bow and the lyre. 0:06:50.570,0:06:54.970 Now this attunement is what he[br]calls the unapparent connection 0:06:54.970,0:06:58.890 that he says is stronger[br]than apparent connection. 0:07:00.350,0:07:05.200 Now connection and attunement[br]translate the same Greek term here. 0:07:06.320,0:07:10.080 It's harmonia, which is the root,[br]of course, of our term for 0:07:10.080,0:07:13.680 musical harmony, but[br]it also means a joining together, as 0:07:13.680,0:07:17.640 when a cabinet maker fits tongue-in-groove[br]when constructing a piece of furniture. 0:07:19.700,0:07:23.920 The important point here is that[br]the unity involved in harmonia, and 0:07:23.920,0:07:28.380 hence in the Logos,[br]is a matter of order and structure. 0:07:30.930,0:07:32.690 But does the world have a LOGOS? 0:07:34.240,0:07:38.384 Now you might ask, what reason[br]does Heraclitus have for being so 0:07:38.384,0:07:43.002 confident that there is such an underlying[br]order or Logos to the world? 0:07:43.002,0:07:46.183 We can grant him the order[br]behind night and day. 0:07:46.183,0:07:51.523 But, why should we suppose that the whole[br]world follows some underlying order? 0:07:51.523,0:07:55.729 Recall that Heraclitus says[br]that everything comes to be 0:07:55.729,0:08:00.000 according to the Logos in[br]the opening lines of the book. 0:08:00.000,0:08:04.450 Why not conclude that the world, or maybe[br]large pockets of it, are just chaotic? 0:08:06.160,0:08:10.000 That's certainly what our[br]experience often tells us. 0:08:10.000,0:08:14.010 But, Heraclitus tells us not[br]to just trust our experience. 0:08:14.010,0:08:20.550 He says, eyes and ears are bad witnesses[br]to people if they have barbarian souls. 0:08:21.770,0:08:25.774 And the soul, he says, has its own LOGOS. 0:08:25.774,0:08:29.512 In one place he calls it a deep LOGOS. 0:08:29.512,0:08:33.947 In another he calls it[br]a self-increasing LOGOS. 0:08:33.947,0:08:39.890 Here is where I would want to translate[br]LOGOS as reason or reasoning. 0:08:39.890,0:08:46.540 When Heraclitus says, I searched myself,[br]or alternatively, I looked into myself. 0:08:46.540,0:08:47.800 He means he used his critical faculties. 0:08:49.600,0:08:51.310 His power of reasoning. 0:08:51.310,0:08:56.400 But, what chain of reasoning would[br]support the conclusion that there is 0:08:56.400,0:09:00.600 an underlying unity and[br]order to the world? 0:09:00.600,0:09:03.349 That's a pretty tall order. 0:09:03.349,0:09:06.326 If Heraclitus produced such an argument, 0:09:06.326,0:09:11.128 he hasn't shared it with us or[br]no one saw fit to quote it from his book. 0:09:11.128,0:09:16.354 But, even if he doesn't have a proof that[br]there is an underlying order to things, 0:09:16.354,0:09:21.762 his conviction that there is such an order[br]isn't idle dogmatism or table thumping. 0:09:21.762,0:09:25.486 For the belief that the world[br]is ultimately understandable or 0:09:25.486,0:09:30.650 explicable is a presupposition behind the[br]whole enterprise of scientific inquiry. 0:09:31.920,0:09:36.630 To search for explanations is to try[br]to uncover hidden connections and 0:09:36.630,0:09:40.979 unifying principles that explain[br]the variety of phenomena that we observe. 0:09:43.160,0:09:46.270 Heraclitus belief that[br]the world has a LOGOS 0:09:46.270,0:09:51.080 may simply express his conviction that[br]the world is ultimately understandable. 0:09:52.510,0:09:57.130 If so, it is a conviction that he shares[br]with the Melanesian Naturalists, Thales, 0:09:57.130,0:10:01.750 Anaximander, and Anaximenes,[br]each of whom also insisted on a single 0:10:01.750,0:10:04.169 explanatory principle[br]of the natural world. 0:10:05.200,0:10:09.144 It is their shared assumption that[br]the world is ultimately explicable, 0:10:09.144,0:10:12.443 more than their specific[br]proposals about how to explain it, 0:10:12.443,0:10:15.954 that have earned them a place in[br]the history of natural science. 0:10:15.954,0:10:20.340 It is also what earns them the title[br]that Aristotle gives them, 0:10:20.340,0:10:25.556 phusiologoi, which we can now understand[br]in a slightly different twist, 0:10:25.556,0:10:31.302 as those who believe with Heraclitus, that[br]there is a LOGOS to the natural world.