Abstract

We raise the issue of language in Heraclitus with a discussion of the meaning of the word Logos, as saying and speaking. This point we explore with Heidegger's analysis of the Logos of Heraclitus in discussing the ontological relation of language to the Logos. This perspective becomes central to our understanding of what Heraclitus means by "speaking in accord with the Logos." In discussing the issue, we first follow Heraclitus' hints in the fragments to what we call those conditions which alienate man from the Logos. ;We also indicate how the fragments may address themselves to the issue of speaking in accord with the Logos. In discussing this matter, we explore Heidegger's notion of the essence of speaking in accord with the Logos as a "hearkened attunement." This idea we take up as constituting apprehension, i.e., thinking, in its fullest sense, which we consider from different aspects as hearkening, or attentive listening, and as attunement. Hearing or listening, as hearkening, we suggest, is intrinsic to grasping and apprehending the Logos. We also consider it essential to speaking in accord with the Logos; and that also means becoming attuned to the Logos as a harmonie, which we discuss in different contexts throughout the dissertation as a unity in opposition. ;We also follow Heraclitus' hints pertaining to how man may become attuned to the Logos. This, we emphasize, may take place as an aesthetic event. Heidegger's notion of art has given us food for thought with regard to this point. We also suggest that the notion of "cosmos" appears to carry an aesthetic sense in Heraclitus. The aesthetic phenomenon, we argue, especially appears to announce itself by the statement in Fragment 8 that "the most beautiful harmony comes from discord." In terms of language, we suggest that this would mean that speaking in attunement is giving voice in struggle to the Logos as radiance, and as beauty. Such speaking we have also characterized as a "suffering experience," and we highlight this point with a discussion of Fragment 92, which we call the Sibyl's suffering encounter with the Logos