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Full Idea
Heraclitus said that good and evil are the same thing.
Gist of Idea
Good and evil are the same thing
Source
report of Heraclitus (fragments/reports [c.500 BCE], 58/102) by Aristotle - Topics 159b32
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Posterior Analytics and Topica', ed/tr. Tredennick,H/Forster,ES [Harvard 1960], p.707
A Reaction
Heaven knows what he meant by this, though it sounds suspiciously like moral nihilism. Maybe Heraclitus was not a very nice man. Or is the thought a more sophisticated one, in line with Nietzsche's remarks about cultural morality?
| 7358 | All men prefer outward appearance to true excellence [Kongzi (Confucius)] |
| 12294 | Good and evil are the same thing [Heraclitus, by Aristotle] |
| 3558 | Only the Cyrenaics reject the idea of a final moral end [Aristippus elder, by Annas] |
| 6040 | There is no universal goal to human life [Aenesidemus, by Photius] |
| 20234 | Morality prevents us from developing better customs [Nietzsche] |
| 3793 | We must question the very value of moral values [Nietzsche] |
| 23731 | 'Externalists' say moral judgements are not reasons, and maybe not even motives [Smith,M] |
| 23732 | A person could make a moral judgement without being in any way motivated by it [Smith,M] |