Practice question · Put in order
Arrange these steps in Heraclitus’ reasoning about the river.
- The waters of a river are constantly moving on
- A river that ceased to flow would no longer be a river
- Yet the river remains identifiable as one river
- You therefore never encounter the same water twice
- So its identity consists in the pattern of flow, not in its matter
Hints
- The argument starts from an uncontroversial observation.
- The conclusion is about what identity CONSISTS in.
Show the answer
- The waters of a river are constantly moving on
- You therefore never encounter the same water twice
- Yet the river remains identifiable as one river
- So its identity consists in the pattern of flow, not in its matter
- A river that ceased to flow would no longer be a river
Why
The argument moves from an obvious fact to a claim about the nature of identity: what makes the river one thing is the persisting pattern, not the persisting stuff. The final step shows the change is constitutive, not incidental.
Practise Heraclitus
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