In this first paper dealing with Heraclitus ' doctrine as such, the author examines and discusses two recent controversial articles with the content of which he sympathizes - one by Gábor Betegh on the cosmological status of Heraclitus ' psychê, and the other by Aryeh Finkelberg on Heraclitus ' cosmogony and the reality of a Heraclitean world conflagration. This examination is aimed, first, at fostering "marginal" opinions which the author believes to be fundamentally correct - and the rejection of which (...) since times immemorial he considers to have greatly harmed and hampered our understanding of the Ephesian philosopher ; second, at introducing some personal corrections and additions to these opinions ; and third, at illustrating the advantages of a deliberately un prejudiced approach towards our sources, an approach based on the presumption of innocence, knowledgeability and intelligence for all our informers and on the rejection of any rejection [this is not a dittography!] of any source on ground of mere suspicion.Among the proposed novelties the following particularly deserve to be underscored: the defense of the authenticity of "fr. B 76" DK qua three different fragments and the reconstruction of Heraclitus ' system of four physical exhalations - both of which are connected with the notion of a world soul; and the interpretation of Plat. Soph. 242 C - 243 A [T 132] as confirming Arist. De cael. 279b12 [T 170] and the cosmogonical interpretation of F 31 - both of which presuppose the reality of a Heraclitean ecpyrosis.Yet, since the author's dogmatism does not extend beyond the requirement of having re course to logically sound procedures, he is ready to give up any conclusion of which it can be proven that it is irreconcilably contradicted by a sounder one and supported by none. (shrink)

Ce texte a déjà paru dans K. I. Boudouris, The Philosophy of Logos, International Center for Greek Philosophy and Culture, Athens, 1996, p. 149-168. It will soon be two Thousand years since one of the earliest Christians, the wise author of the Fourth Gospel, a man who according to tradition was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, wrote his famous sentence : Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος At the beginning there was the Word But as we know, (...) half a millenium earlier, another sage, - Études grecques et latines – Nouvel article. (shrink)

I shall tell you the story, propose an overview, and show the structure, goal, and peculiarities of this monstrous edition that I undertook forty-four years ago: the Heraclitea, of which ten volumes have appeared since 1999. One volume was published in November 2011 and a few others are still in preparation. While telling you this story, I shall strive to show the radical differences between my approaches and the standard ones taught worldwide in the departments of classics and ancient philosophy (...) in universities. (shrink)

I shall tell you the story, propose an overview, and show the structure, goal, and peculiarities of this monstrous edition that I undertook forty-four years ago: the Heraclitea, of which ten volumes have appeared since 1999. One volume was published in November 2011 and a few others are still in preparation. While telling you this story, I shall strive to show the radical differences between my approaches and the standard ones taught worldwide in the departments of classics and ancient philosophy (...) in universities. (shrink)

On trouvera ce texte en ligne, ainsi que de très nombreux autres travaux de Serge Mouraviev, également ici. Une des particularités de la prose du philosophe grec Héraclite d'Éphèse est sa richesse exceptionnelle en structures poétiques et figures de rhétorique dont il faut tenir compte et comprendre le rôle si on souhaite vraiment s'initier à sa doctrine ou, plus exactement, communier sous le sens profond de sa - Études grecques et latines – Nouvel article.

Ce texte a déjà paru dans M. Capasso, F. de Martino, P. Rosati, Studi di filosofia preplatonica, Napoli, Bibliopolis, 1985, p. 159-172. On le trouvera en ligne, ainsi que de très nombreux autres travaux de Serge Mouraviev, également ici. Cratyle l'Athénien, dont la tradition fait un héraclitéen et le premier maître à penser de Platon, avait-il une « philosophie » à lui ? Rien ne l'atteste, et nous ne serions guère étonnés d'apprendre qu'il n'en avait aucun. Partisan convaincu d'Héraclite, il (...) pouvait - Études grecques et latines – Nouvel article. (shrink)

On trouvera ce texte en ligne, ainsi que de très nombreux autres travaux de Serge Mouraviev, également ici. Que la prose d'Héraclite d'Éphèse était une prose rythmée, on s'en doutait depuis longtemps. Mais nous ne connaissons qu'une seule tentative systématique, à notre avis peu convaincante, d'identifier la nature linguistique concrète de son rythme. Ce dont on ne se doutait guère, c'était que ce rythme pouvait se fonder sur le jeu non des syllabes brèves et longues, mais des syllabes accentuées et (...) - Études grecques et latines – Nouvel article. (shrink)

The accent of Greek orthotonic words was mobile with limited freedom of movement, i.e. it could not stand outside a definite zone at the end of the word. Had the limit of this zone been the same for all words and had the accent been allowed to stand anywhere within it, there would have been no problem. Unfortunately, the length of the accentuable zone did vary whatever the unit we use and there was a place within it where the accent (...) was prohibited. Hence the problem of explaining these ‘irregularities’. (shrink)

The accent of Greek orthotonic words was mobile with limited freedom of movement, i.e. it could not stand outside a definite zone at the end of the word. Had the limit of this zone been the same for all words and had the accent been allowed to stand anywhere within it , there would have been no problem. Unfortunately, the length of the accentuable zone did vary whatever the unit we use and there was a place within it where the (...) accent was prohibited . Hence the problem of explaining these ‘irregularities’. (shrink)

The present study partly supports, partly corrects, and partly complements recent discussions of Arius Didymus fr. 23 and fr. 25 Diels, Aetius I, 20, 1 and Sextus Empiricus AM X, 3-4 = PH III, 124. It proposes a comprehensive interpretation of the first text (A.I), defends the attribution of its content to Zeno of Citium (A.II), interprets the Stoic definitions of space, place and void to be found in the other sources (B.I) and again vindicates the attribution of the core (...) definitions to Zeno (B.II). The central methodological principle is the presumption of innocence for sources.The main conclusions of (A) are: 1. Arius Didymus' fr. 23 deals only with the coherence and the structure of the cosmos, not with its immobility; 2. The coherence of the cosmos, as that of any object, is determined by its hexis which pushes its parts towards its centre; 3. The structure of the cosmos, its stratification into the four concentric spheres of the elements, is determined by the combined effect of (a) the thrust downwards they all undergo from the cosmos' hexis; (b) their own natural weight or lightness and (c) the relative quantitative values of these weights or lightnesses; 4. The reasons adduced against Zeno's authorship are not based on the evidence but on the now prevalent disparaging sceptical approach towards Stobaeus' way of excerpting from Arius.The main conclusions of (B) are: 1. There is no deep contradiction between the various de finitions of space ascribed by our sources to Zeno, Chrysippus and the Stoics in general: what Chrysippus denied was the form of the de finition attributed to Zeno by Aetius, not the concept de fined, even though this form seems to have prevailed later in the school; 2. There is no good reason therefore to question its ascription to Zeno as some modern researchers have done; 3. Here again the error is due to a predominantly sceptical approach towards the reliability of our sources. (shrink)