On the Unity of Opposites in Heraclitus

如果从字面上解释，赫拉克利特的对立统一的概念可以被认为是对矛盾规律的违背。因此，一些解释者试图认识到，“统一”与其说是“同一性”，不如说是对立面的某种“联系”。然而，这种旨在将赫拉克利特的思想与逻辑不合时宜地调和的解释，无非是将其合理化，结果是不适当地贬低了他在这一点上的原创性。这里应该指出的是，罗马的希波吕特斯，谁是，除其他外，是一个重要的和关于苏格拉底哲学的权威信息来源，并引用了赫拉克利特在他的Refutatio omnium haereium中提到的对立统一的许多片段，认为这种统一不仅是不同元素的联合，而且是绝对和客观的身份。我们认为，希波利特斯的解释根本不离谱。确实，使用…的一些示例更重要的是，赫拉克利特阐明了对立统一取自日常生活，很容易用相对论解释，而不是不合逻辑的。然而，也有一些统一是看不见的，我们不能很容易地观察到它的存在；这种统一要广义得多，以至于它代表了由所有对立面组成的宇宙的一种潜在结构或客观模式。因此，我们应该清楚地区分赫拉克利特的对立统一的两个层面：一是表面现象，二是客观和本质的统一。不用说，对于赫拉克利特来说，后者对于理解宇宙的本质是决定性的。这是一种动态的统一性，在这种统一性中，对立面相互对立，同时实现了宇宙的调整或彼此之间的和谐。对立统一的断言在我们看来似乎非常不合逻辑，但在赫拉克利特看来，宇宙如此矛盾的存在方式无疑表明了宇宙的现实。较少

The conception of the unity of opposites in Heraclitus may be taken to be a transgression of the law of contradiction, if it is interpreted literally. Some interpreters, therefore, try to recognize that the "unity" means not so much the "identity" as some "connexion" of the opposites. However, this interpretation, which aims to reconcile Heraclitus' thought with logic anachronistically, is nothing but to rationalize it more than necessary and, as a result, to degrade his originality in this point improperly. It should be noted here that Hippolytus of Rome, who is, among others, an important and authoritative source of information on Presocratic philosophy and cites many fragments of Heraclitus referring to the unity of opposites in his Refutatio omnium haeresium, thinks of this unity not as only an association of different elements but as the absolute and objective identity. Hippolytus' interpretation is, we assume, not beside the mark at all. It is true that some of the examples with … More which Heraclitus illustrates the unity of opposites are taken from everyday life and are easily explained in terms of relativity without illogicalness. However, there are also some in which the unity is invisible and we cannot readily observe its existence; this unity is much more generalized so that it represents a latent structure or an objective pattern of the universe composed with all the pairs of opposites. Consequently, we should make a clear distinction between two levels of the unity of opposites in Heraclitus: that which is only a superficial phenomenon and, on the other hand, that which is objective and essential. It goes without saying that, for Heraclitus, it is the latter that is decisively important for the understanding of the nature of the universe. This is the dynamic unicity in which the opposites, opposing with one another, realize a cosmic adjustment or harmony between themselves at the same time. The assertion of the unity of opposites seems very illogical to us, but, in the eyes of Heraclitus, such a paradoxical way the universe subsists shows certainly the cosmic reality. Less