You cannot enter the same water twice. What does the saying mean - you cannot step into the same river twice? What's the point

You can't step into the same river twice
cm. Everything flows, everything changes .

Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.


  • Something is wrong in the Danish state
  • Is it possible to take a walk / Choose a nook further away

See what “You cannot step into the same river twice” in other dictionaries:

    CRATYL- from Athens (2nd Japanese, 5th century, early 4th century BC), other Greek. philosopher. According to legend, a follower of Heraclitus and teacher of Plato; Ch. a character in Plato’s dialogue “Cratylus” (the main source about his life along with Aristotle’s “Metaphysics”). According to… … Philosophical Encyclopedia

    Everything flows, everything changes- From ancient Greek: Panta rhei. Literally: Everything moves. The primary source is the words of the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (Heraclitus of Ephesus, c. 554-483 BC), which the philosopher Plato preserved for history: “Heraclitus says that everything moves and nothing... ... Dictionary of popular words and expressions

    Becoming- Becoming ♦ Devenir Change viewed as a global phenomenon. Therefore, it is being itself, since it is in constant change. “Panta rhei” (“Everything flows”), said Heraclitus. Indeed, everything flows, everything... ... Sponville's Philosophical Dictionary

    HERACLITUS of Ephesus- (Latin Heraclitus, Greek Iraklitos) (about 550 BC, Ephesus, Asia Minor about 480 BC), ancient Greek philosopher, one of the largest representatives of the Ionian school (see IONIAN PHILOSOPHERS) of philosophy. He considered fire to be the origin of all things. encyclopedic Dictionary

    Cratylus- (Kratýlos) ancient Greek philosopher of the late 5th century. BC e., a student of Heraclitus, who made extreme relativistic conclusions from his teaching about the universal fluidity of things. In particular, K. denied the presence of any qualitative certainty in phenomena,... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

    psychology of creativity- the area of ​​psychological research into the creative activity (see creativity) of people in science (see psychology of science), literature, music, fine and performing arts (see ... Great psychological encyclopedia

    Cratylus- This article is about the philosopher Cratylus. See also Cratylus (Plato) Cratylus (ancient Greek: Κρατύλος; 2nd half of the 5th century, beginning of the 4th century BC) Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, follower of Heraclitus (Heraclitian), Athenian. Cratylus was... ... Wikipedia

    Cratylus- (Kratylos) (4th century BC), Greek. philosopher, first representative of relativism, teacher of Plato. K. extremely sharpened the thought of Heraclitus that it is impossible to enter the same river twice (since both the water and our own body will become different),... ... Dictionary of Antiquity

    Indiscernibility principle- Indiscernibility principle ♦ Indiscernables, Principe des Proposed by Leibniz. Argues that every real being is internally different from other beings, in other words, there are no absolutely identical or indistinguishable beings from each other (i.e. Sponville's Philosophical Dictionary

    CRATYL- CRATYL (Κρατύλος) from Athens (late 5th century BC), other Greek. philosopher, follower of Heraclitus. Known as one of the teachers whom Plato listened to in his youth: according to Aristotle before meeting Socrates, according to later tradition (Apulius, ... ... Ancient philosophy

Books

  • Rubicon. Twice into the same river Buy for 185 RUR
  • Rubicon. Twice in the same river. Roman, Kalbazov K.. Once you have already crossed your Rubicon, changing your destiny. You have come to terms with the loss of your entire past life and accepted the lot that fell. Now you are one of the members of a prehistoric tribe. You teach that...

When they want to say that life is fleeting, and events in it are constantly changing, they often use a popular expression, authored by the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus (544-483 BC): “You cannot step into the same river twice.”

Heraclitus's saying became a proverb

What is the meaning of this saying as understood by Heraclitus? It is explained by the author's full quotation: “One cannot step into the same river twice, and one cannot twice overtake mortal nature in the same state, but the rapidity and speed of exchange dissipates and gathers again. Birth, origin never stops. The sun is not only new every day, but eternally and continuously new.”

How is this expression interpreted in the modern sense? It is understood that it makes no sense to return to a person with whom you once broke up, that is, “when you leave, go away.” Thus, its original meaning is distorted as it is viewed through the prism of human relationships. The phrase “You cannot step into the same river twice” has become a proverb.

And yet, let's return to the original meaning of this expression, laid down by Heraclitus. Everything in the world is changing, time cannot be turned back. Time... It would seem that what could be simpler than time? After all, it exists, as it were, everywhere - any event takes place in time, and our life too...

The winged expression of Heraclitus and the Great Mystery of Time

But if we think a little, we will find ourselves faced with the Great Mystery of Time. And then not one, but a whole sea of ​​questions will arise.

Why is time omnipresent? Why is it flowing everywhere? Why can't you step into the same river twice?

The impossibility of repeating the same event, in particular, entering the river, is explained by the fact that some time will pass between the first and second times - and the water that we entered the first time will simply flow away. There will already be new water in the river, which means the river itself will be different.

So it is with time. It flows everywhere and constantly. And this second will never happen again. You can find yourself in that same place as many times as you like, but it is impossible to be there at the same time. And all because time flows in only one direction - from the past to the future- and never in the opposite direction.

By the way, another ancient Greek philosopher Cratylus, who was a student and follower of Heraclitus, in order to emphasize the instantaneous movement of space, time and matter, paraphrased Heraclitus’ aphorism as follows: “You cannot enter the same river even once.” Cratylus’s statement, as it were, sums up Heraclitus’s and brings it to its logical conclusion.

This statement belongs to Heraclitus. The life and philosophical work of Heraclitus occurred during an acute period in the history of the ancient Greek city-states - the era of the Greco-Persian wars, combined with the struggle within the city-states between the demos and the clan aristocracy. The dialectics of Heraclitus was undoubtedly influenced by the turbulent historical events that took place in that era. Heraclitus expressed the ideas of his unusually deep and original teachings in unique sensory-intuitive, metaphorical mental images.

Heraclitus considered not only the principles of nature, but also its characteristics. And he discovered that its fundamental quality is changeability. The image of reality is the river. Everything flows, nothing is stable, “you cannot enter the same river twice,” since other waters are already flowing in it. Death is also an image of reality. “We are afraid of one death, but we have already been exposed to many deaths.” “For the soul, death is water, and for water, death is earth.” Nature represents continuous dying and birth; on the whole, it is always different: “We enter and do not enter the same river.” We cannot say that we exist because “we exist and do not exist at the same time.” The only truth is that we change. In fact, sometimes things seem stable to us, but this stability is a delusion. There are no things that have stable characteristics, there is only becoming. This theory of universal variability, "universal variability" is the most famous view of Heraclitus, which is sometimes called Heraclitism, but this is only part of his philosophy.

This position of philosophy later formed the basis of the philosophy of Hegel and the dialectical-materialist philosophy of Marxism. And his statement “you cannot even enter the same river once” became popular, since in this phrase Heraclitus concluded the main quality of being - variability.

List of sources used:

    Vladislav Tatarkevich. History of philosophy. Ancient and medieval philosophy / Vladislav Tatarkevich // Perm: Perm University Publishing House. – 2000. – 482 p.

    Kokhanovsky V.P. Philosophy: lecture notes / V. P. Kokhanovsky, L. V. Zharov, V. P. Yakovlev // Phoenix. - 2010. – 192 p.

    Kirilenko G. G. Philosophy. / G. G. Kirilenko, E. V. Shevtsov // AST, Slovo. – 2009. – 672 p.

    Mamardashvili Merab. Lectures on ancient philosophy / Merab Mamardashvili; edited by Yu.P. Senokosova // M.: "Agraf". - 1999. – 226 p.

Usually when they say: “You can’t step into the same river twice,” they don’t really think about who said it first. Over time, all worthwhile thoughts begin to belong to humanity. They don't have an author. The same is true with the aphorism “you cannot step into the same river twice.” And yet it has an author. And we will tell you about it.

Heraclitus (c. 544 - c. 483 BC)

The author of the aphorism is Heraclitus of Ephesus, or the Dark One. According to some rumors, he gouged out his eyes so that the world would not distract him from his thinking process. It's difficult to say whether this is true or false. It's not that important now.

Why, according to Heraclitus, can you not step into the same river twice? Because he believed that the basis of everything is constant movement, struggle and the unity of opposites. He is also the author of the saying: “Everything flows, everything (changes).”

The world is in a constant state of internal war of all elements, and this is good. War is the mother of everything and the basis of universal harmony. Let's not forget that the sage belonged to those thinkers who thought about the fundamental principles of the world. Heraclitus believed that fire is at the foundation of reality! The element subordinate to Hephaestus perfectly corresponds to the philosopher’s worldview.

Nautilus Pompilius

Since reality flows like a river, then you shouldn’t even hope to find it in the same state that it was just a minute ago.

A simple and wonderful thought of the ancient misanthrope - “you can’t step into the same river twice.” It appeals to the taste of not only professional writers, but also musicians. The wonderful group Nautilus Pompilius performed a song based on the poems of Ilya Kormiltsev, called “Thirst”. It contains the following words: “And we entered this water once, which cannot be entered twice.” This suggests that Heraclitus is remembered and revered, and his “fiery thoughts” still have an inspiring effect on our contemporaries. True, Ilya Kormiltsev in 2007 joined Heraclitus in a better world, much to our regret.

Everyday interpretation of the saying

It’s difficult to say why, but the saying “you can’t step into the same river twice” is usually remembered when it comes to returning to a previous or previous relationship. For example, like this:

Mom, I want to start dating Katya / Masha / Sveta / Olya again.

Son, I wouldn't advise you to do this. You've already been in this river once. It is not entered twice.

Fundamentally, people, of course, do not change, but on the surface, spontaneously, yes. The meaning of the saying can be interpreted ambivalently: if it didn’t work out once, then it won’t work out the second time either. The meaning, in principle, can be the opposite, but usually what is meant here is a repetition of the same result.

The attentive reader will understand that the everyday meaning of the saying is fundamentally at odds with what Heraclitus had in mind, but such is the popular rumor. In her nature lies a tendency to distort everything. And therefore we advise you to read and reread the classics of philosophy and literature, at least in translation. If there are no essays left, then you need to look for information about them. The main thing is to fight your own ignorance.

You can't step into the same river twice
cm. Everything flows, everything changes .

Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.


See what “You cannot step into the same river twice” in other dictionaries:

    From Athens (2nd Japanese, 5th century, early 4th century BC), other Greek. philosopher. According to legend, a follower of Heraclitus and teacher of Plato; Ch. a character in Plato’s dialogue “Cratylus” (the main source about his life along with Aristotle’s “Metaphysics”). According to… … Philosophical Encyclopedia

    From ancient Greek: Panta rhei. Literally: Everything moves. The primary source is the words of the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (Heraclitus of Ephesus, c. 554-483 BC), which the philosopher Plato preserved for history: “Heraclitus says that everything moves and nothing... ... Dictionary of popular words and expressions

    Becoming- Becoming ♦ Devenir Change viewed as a global phenomenon. Therefore, it is being itself, since it is in constant change. “Panta rhei” (“Everything flows”), said Heraclitus. Indeed, everything flows, everything... ... Sponville's Philosophical Dictionary

    - (Latin Heraclitus, Greek Iraklitos) (about 550 BC, Ephesus, Asia Minor about 480 BC), ancient Greek philosopher, one of the largest representatives of the Ionian school (see IONIAN PHILOSOPHERS) of philosophy. He considered fire to be the origin of all things. encyclopedic Dictionary

    - (Kratýlos) ancient Greek philosopher of the late 5th century. BC e., a student of Heraclitus, who made extreme relativistic conclusions from his teaching about the universal fluidity of things. In particular, K. denied the presence of any qualitative certainty in phenomena,... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

    psychology of creativity- the area of ​​psychological research into the creative activity (see creativity) of people in science (see psychology of science), literature, music, fine and performing arts (see ... Great psychological encyclopedia

    This article is about the philosopher Cratylus. See also Cratylus (Plato) Cratylus (ancient Greek: Κρατύλος; 2nd half of the 5th century, beginning of the 4th century BC) Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, follower of Heraclitus (Heraclitian), Athenian. Cratylus was... ... Wikipedia

    Cratylus- (Kratylos) (4th century BC), Greek. philosopher, first representative of relativism, teacher of Plato. K. extremely sharpened the thought of Heraclitus that it is impossible to enter the same river twice (since both the water and our own body will become different),... ... Dictionary of Antiquity

    Indiscernibility principle- Indiscernibility principle ♦ Indiscernables, Principe des Proposed by Leibniz. Argues that every real being is internally different from other beings, in other words, there are no absolutely identical or indistinguishable beings from each other (i.e. Sponville's Philosophical Dictionary

    CRATYL- CRATYL (Κρατύλος) from Athens (late 5th century BC), other Greek. philosopher, follower of Heraclitus. Known as one of the teachers whom Plato listened to in his youth: according to Aristotle before meeting Socrates, according to later tradition (Apulius, ... ... Ancient philosophy

Books

  • Rubicon. Twice into the same river
  • Rubicon. Twice in the same river. Roman, Kalbazov K.. Once you have already crossed your Rubicon, changing your destiny. You have come to terms with the loss of your entire past life and accepted the lot that fell. Now you are one of the members of a prehistoric tribe. You teach that...