HERACLITUS’ FRAGMENTS

A COMMENTARY

BY DARRELL P. ARNOLD, PH.D.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS

Beginning in 2017, I blogged a commentary on the Fragments of Heraclitus, which I finished about a year later. For now, these remain in first draft form. But I believe they are useful as is.

For more convenient access, I’m making the blogs available in order here. I integrate reflections here of the main commentaries on Heraclitus, especially from Kahn and Robinson. In doing this, I reflect to some extent on how later Ancients and Medievals received his thought. I also summarize and comment on the reception of his thought by Hegel and finish by comparing Heraclitus with some other process thinkers. What I offer here is not philology so much as philosophical reflection that does still attempt to honor the text.

One of the first questions confronted in this project is what translation of the fragments to use. Another is the order in which they should be presented. I decided to mix various translations, making others available where it seems particularly helpful to do so. I began my comments using the order in Robin Waterfield’s translation in The First Philosophers, The Presocratics and the Sophists (Oxford U P, 2009). However, Waterfield only translates about half of the Fragments, so in the end I re-numbered the early comments in alignment with Kahn’s numbering in The Art and Thought of Heraclitus (Cambridge UP, 1983) and decided to continue comments following the order laid out in that translation. Kahn reconstructs the Fragments to align with the general thematic order that we know from Diogenes Laertius was employed in the Ancient and now lost book of which the Fragments were a part, Heraclitus’ On Nature. That was divided into three sections: (1) on the universe; (2) on politics (and ethics); and (3) on theology. The more specific order of those fragments within that book is not known.

In addition to following Kahn’s numbering, I do indicate the fragment numbering from various other translations, including the critical edition numbering of Diels/Kranz (DK or D, normally in the revised B sectioning), the latter which are also followed by Dennis Sweet (S), whose Heraclitus. Translation and Analysis (U P of America, 1995) I often make use of. I also provide the numberings of some of the texts of Philip Wheelwright ( W) in The Presocratics (Odyssey Press, 1966), and the recent translation by Andre Laks and Gleen W. Most (GM), available from Loeb Classical Library, Part 2, on Early Ionian Thinkers (Harvard U P, 2016). In the blog, each of those texts, including Kahn’s, is referenced with the first letter of the last name of the translator (as noted above). There are occasional omissions. I will turn to those as time permits

 

THE FRAGMENTS

Fragment 1 (Sent. 1) (D1)

Fragment 1 (Sent. 2-3) (D1)

Fragment 2 (D34)

Fragment 3 (D2)

Fragment 4 (D17)

Fragment 5 (D71-73)

Fragment 6 (D89)

Fragment 7 (D18)

Fragment 8 (D22)

Fragment 9 (D35)

Fragment 10 (D123)

Fragment 11 (D47)

Fragment 12 (D A23)

Fragment 13 (D74)

Fragment 14 (D55)

Fragment 15 (D101A)

Fragment 16 (D107)

Fragment 17 (D19)

Fragment 18 (D40) 

Fragment 19 (D57)

Fragment 20 (D106)

Fragment 21 (D42)

Fragment 22 (D56)

Fragments 23-24 (D105, D38)

Fragment 25 (D129)

Fragment 26 (D81)

Fragment 27 (D108)

Fragment 28 (101)

Fragment 29 (D116)

Fragment 30 (D114)

Fragment 31 (D 113)

Fragment 32 (D112)

Fragment 33 (D93)

Fragment 34 (D92)

Fragment 35 (D45)

Fragment 36 (D50)

Fragment 37 (D30)

Fragment 38 (D31A)

Fragment 39 (D31B)

Fragment 40 (D90)

Fragment 41 (D76)

Fragment 42 (D100, MP.344)

Fragment 43 (DA13, DA5)

Fragment 44 (D94)

Fragment 45 (D120)

Fragment 46 (D99)

Fragment 47 (D3)

Fragment 48 (D6, M58C)

Fragment 49 (D126)

Fragment 50 (D12)

Fragment 51 (D91)

Fragment 52 (D84a)

Fragment 53 (D84b)

Fragment 54 (D41)

Fragment 55 (D78)

Fragment 56 (D82-83)

Fragment 57 (D79)

Fragment 58 (D70)

Fragment 59 (D104)

Fragment 60 (D87)

Fragment 61 (D97)

Fragment 62 (D39)

Fragment 63 (D49)

Fragment 64 (D121)

Fragment 65 (D44)

Fragment 66 (D33)

Fragment 67 (D110-D111)

Fragment 68 (D102)

Fragment 69 (D23)

Fragment 70 (D61)

Fragment 71 (D9)

Fragment 72 (D37)

Fragment 73 (D58)

Fragment 74 (D59)

Fragment 75 (D8)

Fragment 76 (D11)

Fragment 77 (D125)

Fragment 78 (D51)

Fragment 79 (D48)

Fragment 80 (D54)

Fragment 81 (DA22, M28C)

Fragment 82 (D80)

Fragment 83 (D53)

Fragment 84 (D27)

Fragment 85 (D28A)

Fragment 86 (D86)

Fragment 87 (D28B)

Fragment 88 (D96)

Fragment 89 (D21)

Fragment 90 (D26)

Fragment 91 (D75)

Fragment 92 (D62)

Fragment 93 (D88)

Fragment 94 (D52)

Fragment 95 (DA19)

Fragment 96 (D25)

Fragment 97 (D29)

Fragment 98 (D20)

Fragment 99 (D103)

Fragment 100 (D24)

Fragment 101 (D115)

Fragment 102 (D36)

Fragment 103 (D60)

Fragment 104 (D43)

Fragment 105 (D85)

Fragment 106 (D117)

Fragment 107 (D95)

Fragment 108 (D77)

Fragment 109 (D118)

Fragment 110 (D63)

Fragment 111 (D98)

Fragment 112 (D7)

Fragment 113 (DA15, D12)

Fragment 114 (D119)

Fragment 115 (D14)

Fragment 116 (D15)

Fragment 117 (D5)

Fragment 118 (D32)

Fragment 119 (D64)

Fragment 120 (D65)

Fragment 121 (D66)

Fragment 122 (D16)

Fragment 123 (D67)

Fragment 124 (D10)

Fragment 125 (D124)

Hegel on Heraclitus (1)

Hegel on Heraclitus (2) 

Hegel on the Logical Principle in Heraclitus (3)

Montaigne on Heraclitus and Democritus

Heraclitus and Laozi (1)

Heraclitus and Laozi (2)

Heraclitus and Laozi (3) 

Process Philosophies (1)

Process Philosophies (2)Â