Clarissa Marie C.

Tagaza
PH 101
3 BS Comtech
Section T
In Heraclitus fragments, one of the central themes is the unity of
opposites a notion that we can use in order to make sense of the human
condition. When we understand that there is a commonality behind
everything contradictory, this unity allows us to see that we are all part of a
single reality.
As stated in Heraclitus fragment XCIX, The beginning and the end
are shared in the circumference of the circle.1 In a circle, one cannot
exactly tell which point the circle begins and which point it ends. Likewise,
the circle mentioned in Heraclitus fragment is a representation of the
human existence. At any given point, there will be an ending of a life but
also a beginning of a life. It is an endless cycle of exits and entrances, of
flames extinguishing and rekindling, of life and death.
In this cycle of countless opposites, certain entities require the nonexistence of another in order for this entity to exist. There are times when
birth creates death and death creates birth. As stated in Fragment CXXIII,
The god: day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, satiety and
hunger. It alters, as when mingled with perfumes, it gets named according
to the pleasure of each one.2 Without night, winter, war, and hunger, there
would be no day, summer, peace, and satiety. These entities, in a way, are
defined by the absence of their opposites since these opposites cannot exist
without the others non-existence. Additionally, the entities that require the
death of another entity in order to exist are not limited to direct opposites.
Fragment XLI reads, The death of fire is birth for air, and the death of air
is birth for water.3 The juxtaposed elements mentioned in this fragment
are not direct opposites of each other, however, there is still a chain or
pattern of creations causing destructions and destructions causing
creations. To name a few instances where this may apply, a candles flame
can be extinguished by a single blow of air, and air that rises and is
absorbed by the clouds turns into rainwater. All these small events that
constantly occur create unity in the sense that they are all part of the
aforementioned endless cycle they are mere points that create the circle.
When thinking about the notion of the unity of opposites, one must
also take into consideration the factor of relativism the belief that
different things are true for different people or at different times4. In
1 Charles Kahn, The art and thought of Heraclitus, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
1979, p. 75.

2 Ibid, p. 85.
3 Ibid, p. 47.
4 Merriam-Webster Dictionary, s.v. Relativism, accessed September 12, 2016,
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/relativism.

fragment LXX, it states, The sea is the purest and foulest water: for fish
drinkable and life sustaining; for men undrinkable and deadly.5 At the
same point in time, the same body of water creates two completely opposite
perspectives from two different living things. On one hand, the sea can kill
a human, while keeping fish alive on the other. However, despite the
disparity between these two perspectives, they still pertain to a single and
unified entity, which is the sea. These are mere aspects of one reality.
Therefore, we must keep in mind that despite the differences in the pointsof-view among humans, there is still a commonality among all of us because
we exist in one reality and one universe. The various truths in the universe
are all pieces of a larger truth.
In conclusion, fragment CXXIV states, Graspings: wholes and not
wholes, convergent divergent, consonant dissonant, from all things one and
from one thing all.6 This fragment basically summarizes Heraclitus notion
of the unity of opposites. Taking a look at the various oxymoronic phrases
mentioned in the fragment, it can be assumed that these all pertain to one
thing, and in the end, Heraclitus finds a way to make these antonyms fall
under one definition. Similarly, all the opposites, contradictions, and
inverses, of the universe despite their differences, constitute one unified
reality. In order for the universe to be the way that it is, these
contradictions need to exist because they are a vital part of the unfolding of
universal events. In the context of the human condition, our temporary
existencefrom birth until deathis a cycle that is a part of a much larger
universal cycle. In a way, there is something that is somewhat consoling
about this notion. Although we are destined to die in the future, our
existence is a point in the larger circle, hence without this point, the circle
would be incomplete. Therefore, the smallness of the human beings
existence plays an important role in constituting the grand reality, as each
piece completes the whole.

5 Kahn, op.cit. p. 61.

6 Ibid., p. 85.