Quick Look
Heraclitus lived in Ephesus in the sixth century BC. This is a lucid and eye-opening study of his thought, and place in history.
Description
The philosopher Heraclitus was a high-born citizen of Ephesus, who lived in the sixth century BC. He renounced his high station and became increasingly distant from his fellow men, disillusioned with the corruption of their thought.
Heraclitus founded no school, left no systematic philosophy or religion, and all we know of his work has come down to us in the most elusive of fragments. Yet he remains central to the long line of thinkers who have traced the tradition of transformative inner inquiry through western culture.
This is a lucid and eye-opening study of Heraclitus' thought, and place in history, Richard Geldard argues that we who flounder in the vacuous relativity of post-modern thought are badly in need of new impulses and philosophical renewal.
Reviews
'An excellent new book. Highly recommended, especially to anyone interested in the roots of Western thinking.'
-- Network, December 2000
'A lively introduction to the first fortean philosopher. Geldard located Heraclitus alongside his contemporary truth-seekers in the East -- Buddha, Confuscius, Lao Tse, Zoroaster -- as one of the first individuals to begin the process of dismembering received cultural myths and replacing them with a personal quest for truth.'
-- Fortean Times, April 2001
Author
Richard Geldard studied Greek drama and then pursued graduate studies in philosophy at the universities of Stanford and Oxford. Inspired by the work of T.B.L. Webster and William Arrowsmith, Geldard aims at renewing in English translation the richness of the Greek cultural experience, with all its vitality and metaphysical currents. He describes his current work as 'wrestling with the ghost of Heraclitus'.
Links
Also available by Richard Geldard:
The Spiritual Teachings of Ralph Waldo Emerson
