Note 91 — IX

In allusion to fr. 90 (Diels). Diels finds in fr. 108 (fr. 18, Bywater), ὄτι σοφόν ἐστι πάντων κεχωρισμένον the thought that God is the Absolute, comparing the Νοῦς of Anaxagoras and the χωριστὴ ίδέα of Plato and the οὐσία χωριστή of Aristotle. He assumes that σοφόν=λόγος and concedes great significance to the fragment. But this interpretation is utterly incompatible with everything else that we know of Heraclitus, and should be admitted only if it were the only one admissible. Zeller discusses the fragment at length, Vol. I, p. 629, 1. If Diels's interpretation be accepted, the exposition above given of Heraclitus's logical position must be abandoned.