Heraclitus’ eschatology: Was there one, or not?

0544507 - FLÚ 2022 RIV AT eng J - Journal Article
Vítek, Tomáš
Heraclitus’ eschatology: Was there one, or not?
Wiener Studien. Zeitschrift für klassische Philologie, Patristik und lateinische Tradition. -, č. 134 (2021), s. 27-49. ISSN 0084-005X
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA19-00355S
Institutional support: RVO:67985955
Keywords : Heraclitus * eschatology * soul * intentional ambiguity
OECD category: Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1553/WST134S27

Heraclitus’ eschatology is largely derived from his concept of the soul. One group of researchers holds that the dry souls of the wise, the well-informed and of soldiers endure after death, while the souls of the ignorant, the sick, and of cowards perish with death in water because of pleasures, disease, and obtuseness. Souls that are neither too dry nor too wet persist in the underworld. However, other specialists consider the presence of an eschatology in Heraclitus’ thinking to be unproven and contradictory. According to them, all souls cyclically arise from or vanish into water or fire, and the measure of their dryness or wetness has only a moral or intellectual meaning and not an eschatological one. Both of these interpretative positions have their strong points, but they also come with some problems and questions that are very serious and difficult to solve. It is possible that Heraclitus intentionally did not express himself clearly in this area, so that his statements included both positions without, in all likelihood, giving priority to either.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0321359