The Theology of Heraclitus: a Presocratic Pantheism

109certaln early Aon-techolcal Elearings, then tt Ls that ullderstandingwe shoulil choose.Itappily such an undersiarCiag is easily found. IEfact, lt was fouad as Long ago as lhe early part of the thirdcentu!y of the Ch!istlan eta uheo Alexanaler of Aphrodislastook !9!q9! in B30 not asruorlCrbut as "a alescrip!1on ofexisten! things geaerally and tle arrangenent of then byvlrtue of uhict! there j.s a transirion of all things lnto eachthlng in turn" (see above, pp.fl0-1). In other words, he sawI9S!99 here as referring to the order or arrangenent of realtfywhlch H. rras espousing -- s?ecifical1y, in Alexandet'soplnlon, the continual change a:rd flow of one thlng lnto anothet.Thls "arrangedent of re:1ity" o. lgsry! is perhapsbest expressed by our phrise "p:iiosophical systern". when aphilosopher lays out any sort o: theory of how the eorld isoperatlng, vhat is the truth !hat underlles experlence, o!rhat the s!uff of xeallly reaIll is, he lnevltably makes orde!out of chaos. He aakes thlngs lnto good older !ha! wererglveltr wi!hout Duch sense at alL Any philosopher glves anexplanation, a logos if you $ril1, and this ]9!!g lo the Creekaesthetic sense would be a fine !hing, a thing of beauty, amlcrocosrll of 1aw and order. -{s we sarr earlier, !gg!99 inHol!er was often used io a moral/Eilitary sense forldlsciplhedtroops acting in the iray they orgit" and thls use prepared theway for the poliEical use of kosaos fouIld it| Ilerodotus andDenocri!us lrhere it meant a "co:stltutionri. For cons!itutionsuere seefr as that which ordered the societal sttucture into a