Practice question · True or false
Heraclitus chose fire as the archē because a flame persists only by continuously transforming what it consumes.
Hints
- Ask what kind of thing a flame is, an object or a process.
- A flame keeps a stable form only by constant transformation, which fits his doctrine exactly.
Show the answer
True
Why
True, and the choice is precise rather than poetic. A flame is a process whose stable appearance depends entirely on continuous change, which is the perfect image of a being that consists in becoming.
Practise Heraclitus
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More questions on Heraclitus
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- Which claims are Heraclitean?
- Which claims does Heraclitus assert, as opposed to the misreadings commonly attributed to him?
- Arrange these steps in Heraclitus’ reasoning about the river.
- Complete the account of the logos.