A model for change in Heraclitus

Abstract

The unity of the way up and down presented in B60 would be a model of change in Heraclitus. Its components are two opposites, A and B, and an unifying substratum AB or BA. They would represent a reciprocal change (from A to B, then from B to A) serving as a proof of the opposites' union. The conditions of such a change would rest on the interaction between the components. The opposites' existence depends on their unifying substratum, but their unification cannot result in an homogeneous whole, for it would make the change impossible. The application of such a model to particular cases presented over the fragments allow a better comprehension of the types of change and the types of opposites presented in Heraclitus' fragments.