“ everything, like flame in a fire, is born by the death of something else. ”
Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy (1945). copy citation
| Author | Bertrand Russell |
|---|---|
| Source | A History of Western Philosophy |
| Topic | death fire |
| Date | 1945 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/History%20of%20Western%20Philosoph... |
Context
“He was chiefly famous in antiquity for his doctrine that everything is in a state of flux, but this, as we shall see, is only one aspect of his metaphysics.
Heraclitus, though an Ionian, was not in the scientific tradition of the Milesians.* He was a mystic, but of a peculiar kind. He regarded fire as the fundamental substance; everything, like flame in a fire, is born by the death of something else. “Mortals are immortals, and immortals are mortals, the one living the other’s death and dying the other’s life.” There is unity in the world, but it is a unity formed by the combination of opposites.”
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