Heraclitus biography and contributions

Greek philosopher (late 6th/early 5th-century BC)

For other people named Heraclitus, see Heraclitus (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Heraclius or Heracles.

Heraclitus (; Ancient Greek: ἩράκλειτοςHērákleitos; fl. c. 500 BC) was an ancient Greekpre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire.

He exerts a wide influence on ancient and modernWestern philosophy, through the works of such authors as Plato, Aristotle, Hegel, and Heidegger.

Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrote a single work, only fragments of which have survived.

Heraclitus biography and contributions to psychology

Even in ancient times, his paradoxical philosophy, appreciation for wordplay, and cryptic, oracular epigrams earned him the epithets "the dark" and "the obscure". He was considered arrogant and depressed, a misanthrope who was subject to melancholia.

Consequently, he became known as "the weeping philosopher" in contrast to the ancient atomist philosopher Democrit