Eleni Kontogianni

In the frame of the Heraclitean studies, the comprehension of the terms of logos and physis constitutes a problem in itself, if we take in consideration the equivocity that they imply already since Antiquity. Through his dialogue with Heraclitus, Heidegger has the intention of returning to the origin of these words in order to highlight the foundations of western philosophy. Thus, he brings out the original meaning of logos, as “togetherness” or “collectedness”, and of physis, as it designates the emergence of everything that appears. The Heraclitean logos, before signifying reason or discourse, acquires the signification of that which gathers and preserves in its unity that which appears as it is emerging, the totality of that which is, that which physis is. So that logos, as the original unity of the totality of the being, is identified with physis. It is precisely this identification that allows Heidegger to pose the question of the sense of being, founded upon a new basis.