SOURCE: Heinrich Gomperz, "Heraclitus of Ephesus," in Philosophical Studies, edited by Daniel S. Robinson, The Christopher Publishing House, 1953, pp. 88-107.

In the following excerpt originally published in 1939, Gomperz examines the Heraclitean concepts of the Cosmos, Fire, Becoming, and Change, remarking upon problems with commonly assumed views of his major tenets.

It is a pleasure to present to an outstanding scholar of modern Greece a summary of investigations on the philosophy of Heraclitus that have now been carried on for almost thirty years. Unfortunately it will be but a very incomplete sketch, since time and space fail and much important material is not available here.

It would be interesting to know when Heraclitus' book was written—if, indeed, it was composed at any one time and does not rather represent the result of long and continuous elaboration. At any rate, it contains, in a most condensed and even compressed...