---
title: "Heraclitus | Presocratic philosophy | Thought Archive"
number: "037"
slug: "037-heraclitus"
author: "Wenzi / 文子"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://tongzai.space/en/thought-archive/037-heraclitus/"
is_primary_text: true
---

# Heraclitus（Presocratic philosophy）



## Common research question

**What did Heraclitus actually say about the river and change?**

Heraclitus' river sayings raise questions about identity in change, but the familiar “you cannot step into the same river twice” circulates through later reports and reformulations. His fragments concerning logos, opposites, and order cannot be compressed into “everything merely flows.”

## Interpretive boundary

Distinguish fragments, testimonia, and modern paraphrases; do not fabricate verbatim Greek quotations.

## Archive evidence

- [E-04 ｜ Fragments of Heraclitus DK B12: different waters ever flowing in the same river](#E-04)
- [E-01 ｜ Fragments of Heraclitus DK B1: the Logos holds, yet people do not understand](#E-01)