TL;DR

Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 540–480 BC) argued that the world is a process rather than a collection of things, but — and this is the part the slogan destroys — a process governed by a fixed ratio of exchange. His cosmos is an ever-living fire…

How it works

Heraclitus lived in Ephesus, on the Ionian coast of what is now Turkey, in the generation after Anaximander and roughly contemporary with Parmenides. The ancient biographical tradition — chiefly Diogenes Laertius, Book IX, writing some seve…

Key takeaways

Further reading