The evolution of Heraclitus: Charles Peirce

Through the word synechism, very low m can understand what is from ancient Greek, somebody can misunderstand and thinks to a recipe of a foreign dish, but it is alone a philosophical think, that the author, this is Charles Sanders Peirce(1839-1914), explained in one his essay: “The word synechism is the English form of the Greek, from συνεκισμός from συνεκης continuous. For two centuries we have been affixing -is and -ism to words, in order to note sects which exalt the importance of those elements which the stem-words signify. Thus, materialism is the doctrine that matter is everything, idealism the doctrine that ideas are everything, dualism the philosophy which splits everything in two. In like manner, I have proposed to make synechism mean the tendency to regard everything as continuous. For many years I have been endeavoring to develop this idea, and have, of late, given some of my results in the Monist. carry the doctrine so far as to maintain that continuity governs the whole domain of experience in every element of it. Accordingly, every proposition, except so far as it relates to an unattainable limit of experience (which I call the Absolute), is to be taken with an indefinite qualification; for a proposition which has no relation whatever to experience is devoid of all meaning.3 I propose here, without going into the extremely difficult question of the evidences of this doctrine, to give a specimen of the manner in which it can be applied to religious questions. I cannot here treat in fall of the method of its application. It readily yields corollaries which appear at first highly enigmatic; but their meaning is cleared up by a more thoroughgoing application of the principle. This principle is, of course, itself to be understood in a synechistic sense; and, so understood, it in no wise contradicts itself. Consequently, it must lead to definite results, if the deductions are accurately performed.” Important note that is explicative for this concept is the following; it is true, the three dimension of space are generally with synechism Pierce find other dimension that are right, because the space is various but it is the speculative philosophy; the analysis that Pierce made regard this step is upshot of a think that he called: “…is a purely scientific philosophy…”. The conception of Pierce regard the space that is continuous is an evolution of Heraclitus, but with other sense, what? In geometrical words we can imagine that Heraclitus, with his πάντα ρει this is everything passes as the water of a river, he has imagined a line long, but alone straight, instead Pierce has imagined the extension of space everywhere, in fact he has spoken about the metempsychosis, that is transmutation of soul from a body to other after the death, and the deny that is in following words, above all, about the angles is an evolution of Heraclitus, because everything passes, but the direction can be other and not alone straight: “Thoroughgoing synechism will not permit us to say that the sum of the angles of a triangle exactly equals two right angles, but only that it equals that quantity plus or minus some quantity which is excessively small for all the triangles we can measure. We must not accept the proposition that space has three dimensions as strictly accurate; but can only say that any movements of bodies out of the three dimensions are at most exceedingly minute.” For the metempsychosis Pierce said, without mention of this religion: “But, further, synechism recognizes that the carnal consciousness is but a small part of the man. There is, in the second place, the social consciousness, by which a man's spirit is embodied in others, and which continues to live and breathe and have its being very much longer than superficial observers think. Nor is this, by any means, all. A man is capable of a spiritual consciousness, which constitutes him one of the eternal verities, which is embodied in the universe as a whole. This as an archetypal idea can never fail; and in the world to come is destined to a special spiritual embodiment.”, and he added, regard the general conception of synechysm: “I have said enough, I think, to show that, though synechism is not religion, but, on the contrary, is a purely scientific philosophy, yet: should it become

generally accepted, as I confidently anticipate, it may play a part in the onement of religion and science.”

Alessandro Lusana