Heziodovo in Heraklitovo razumevanje sveta in časa

Gostiša, Domen (author), Zore, Franc (mentor)

Diplomsko delo se ukvarja z antičnim pesnikom Heziodom in predsokratskim mislecem Heraklitom in njunima pojmovanjema sveta in časa. Naš in njun svet loči več kot dva tisoč let, pa vendar so njune misli aktualne še danes. Med Heziodom in Heraklitom je nekaj sto let razlike, prvi sodi med pesnike, drugi med filozofe, Heraklit je Hezioda tudi kritiziral. Heziod je živel v času pred nastankom grških mestnih držav, ko je pravica nastopala na ravni neba in zemlje, na zemlji je bila pravica odlok, odvisen od samovolje kraljev, na nebu pa je vladalo vrhovno, a oddaljeno in nedosegljivo božanstvo. Z nastankom mestnih držav in zapisom zakonov je pravica izgubila videz idealne vrednote in se udejanila v zakonu, ki je skupen vsem. Ambicija tistih, ki so kot Anaksimander, Ferekid in Heraklit napisali knjige (Heraklit jo je tudi pomenljivo shranil v Artemidino svetišč), je bila, da tudi drugim omogočijo spoznati svoja odkritja in mnenja, iz svojega početja pa so želeli narediti skupno dobrino mesta. Heziod je živel v Askri na južnem pobočju Helikona, v osrednji grški pokrajini Bojotiji, sicer pa so podatki o njegove življenju skromni in pomanjkljivi. Mnenja tistih, ki se ukvarjajo s preučevanjem Hezioda, se razhajajo, nekateri ga postavljajo v 8. st. pr. n. št., drugi v obdobje okrog leta 700 pr. n. št., vprašanje pa še vedno ostaja odprto. Najpomembnejši dogodek v Heziodovem pastirskem življenju je bilo srečanje z Muzami, ki so ga naučile pesniti oziroma so vanj vdahnile pesem. Hezioda poznamo kot avtorja dela Teogonija in Dela in dnevi. Heraklit je bil grški predsokratski filozof (beseda predsokratiki označuje mislece, ki niso šli skozi miselno šolo Sokrata in Platona, četudi so lahko bili njuni sodobniki, oznaka pa se je uveljavila z delom Fragmenti predsokratikov), ki je živel v Efezu od okoli leta 535 pr. n. št. do 475 pr. n. št. Njegovo edino ohranjeno fragmentarno delo, ki je bilo tako poimenovano kasneje, nosi naslov O naravi. Heraklit pravi o času, da je otrok, ki se igra s kockami, na drugi strani Heziod vzpostavi zgodbo o nastanku neumrljivih bogov, ki ustvarijo človeški rod. Človeški rod razdeli na pet dob, v katerih je predstavljena zgodovina kot dekadenca, vsak rod z izjemo enega je slabši od prejšnjega, o svojem času pa Heziod pravi, da je najslabši. Iz njegove pripovedi lahko sklepamo, da bo lahko spet nastopil boljši rod. Heraklit pa pravi, da je svet vedno bil, je in bo, primerja ga z ognjem, ki se prižiga in ugaša po merah. Heraklit je kritiziral antropomorfni pogled na bogove, o Heziodu pa je dejal, da ni znal ločiti med dnevom in nočjo, sicer bi vedel, da je to eno in isto, čeprav je ogromno vedel. Prav tako je zanimiv Sokratov oziroma Platonov pogled na oba obravnavana avtorja; Heraklit je po Sokratovem mnenju vreden, da se poglobimo v njegovo delo, o njem se je izrazil spoštljivo, na drugi strani pa je imel do pesništva ambivalenten odnos; v Ionu je označil pesnika kot navdihnjenega od bogov, v Državi, kjer je izrazil misel, da vlada med filozofijo in pesništvom starodaven spor, pa je pesnika iz idealne države izgnal. Za Hezioda bi lahko rekli, da je bolj zapleten v areno življenja, četudi so ga navdahnile Muze in piše o bogovih. Pravico utemeljuje z Zevsom, če pa bi se zgodilo, da bi krivičnež prejel večji delež pravice, bi Heziod pravico zamenjal za krivico, čeprav upa, da se to ne bo zgodilo. Heraklit nasprotno pravi, da je Zevs lahko ime za tisto Eno, modro, in se ukvarja z absolutno resnico izven nasprotja pravice in krivice, ukvarja se s počelom in s tistim onkraj videza. Božji nivo je drugačen od našega in nam nerazumljiv, pravi Heraklit. Heraklita in Hezioda loči ločnica, ki loči mit in filozofijo, in prikazuje dva načina modrosti. Misleca pa nam kljub časovni oddaljenosti in težavam z razumevanjem še vedno lahko odgovarjata na vprašanja, ki si jih zastavljamo danes.

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: Heraklit, Heziod, čas, svet.
• Work type: Bachelor thesis/paper
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Year: 2019
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-108906
• Publication date in RUL: 01.08.2019

Secondary language

• Language: English
• Title: Hesiod and Heraclitus and their Perception of the World and Time

Abstract

This diploma thesis discusses the ancient poet Hesiod and the Presocratic philosopher Heraclitus and their perception of the world and time. Although they lived more than two thousand years ago, their thoughts are still up to date today. There is a difference of some hundred years between Hesiod and Heraclitus; besides, the first one is a poet and the other one a philosopher, the latter also criticized Hesiod. Hesiod lived before the emergence of Greek city states, in a time when justice was sought either on earth or in heaven; on earth, justice was a decree dependant on the arbitrariness of kings, in heaven, on the other hand, justice was ruled by a supreme but remote and unreachable deity. After city states emerged and laws were written, justice lost the status of an ideal value and was established in a law common to all. Those who wrote books, like Anaximander, Pherecydes and Heraclitus (who meaningfully stored his in the temple of Artemis), had an ambition to enable everyone to get acquainted with their discoveries and thoughts; moreover, with their books, they wanted to create a common good for the city. Hesiod lived in Ascra on the southern slope of Mount Helicon in the central Greek district of Boeotia. Not much is further known about his life because the data are scarce and inadequate. The opinions of those researching Hesiod diverge as some place him in the 8th century BC and the others in the period around 700 BC, which leaves this issue unsolved. The most important event in Hesiod's shepherd life was when he encountered the Muses, who taught him to write poems, or rather 'whispered the song into him'. Hesiod is generally known as the author of Theogony and Works and Days. Heraclitus was a Greek Presocratic philosopher. (Presocratics were philosophers who did not receive the teachings of Socrates and Plato, although they might have been their contemporaries. This definition was established in the work Fragments of the Presocratics.) He lived in Ephesus from around 535 BC to 475 BC. The only fragmentary work that remains of him is On Nature, which got its current title only later. Heraclitus says of time that it is a child playing with blocks. Hesiod, on the other hand, recounts a story about the birth of the immortal gods who created the humanity. He divides the humanity into five periods and presents the history as decadence within which each human race with one exception is worse than the previous one; Hesiod finds his time the worst. Given his interpretation, a conclusion could be drawn that an era of a better human race is possible. Heraclitus' interpretation is that the world has been, still is and always will be. He compares it to a fire that is kindled and extinguished in measures. He criticizes the anthropomorphic view of the gods and, while claiming that Hesiod knew a lot, Heraclitus reprimands him for not knowing how to differentiate between day and night, because if he did, he would know that they are the same. Equally interesting is the view of both discussed authors by Socrates and Plato. Socrates spoke of Heraclitus with respect and said of his work that it is worth studying. On the other hand, his attitude towards poetry was ambivalent; in Ion, Socrates says a poet is inspired by the gods, in The Republic, however, he talks about an ancient dispute between philosophy and poetry and how he would have a poet expelled from an ideal state. Hesiod could be said to have been very engrossed in the earthly life, although he was inspired by the Muses and wrote about the gods. He equals justice with Zeus; however, if the unjust were to receive a greater share of justice, Hesiod would trade justice for injustice, although he hopes that would not be the case. On the other hand, Heraclitus says that Zeus could be the name for the concept of One, Wise; he deals with the absolute truth beyond the polarity between justice and injustice, with the origin and with what is beyond the visible. According to Heraclitus, God's perception is different from ours and incomprehensible to us. Heraclitus and Hesiod are separated by a line that draws a divide between myth and philosophy and demonstrates two ways of wisdom. Despite time distance and difficulties in understanding, the two thinkers can still answer questions that we pose ourselves today.

• Keywords: Heraclitus, Hesiod, time, world.