Professor Kahn pieces together the fragments of Heraclitus' thought and finds a philosophy about human existence, a theory of language of multiple meaning and ambiguity, and a vision of life and death. The fragments are presented here in a readable order; translation and commentary aim to make accessible to everyone.

Behind the superficial obscurity of what fragments we have of Heraclitus' thought, Professor Kahn claims that it is possible to detect a systematic view of human existence, a theory of language which sees a ambiguity as a device for the expression of multiple meaning, and a vision of human life and death within the larger order of nature.