Previously

My Favorite Philosophy Word: “AS”

Heraclitus: War, Politics, and Law

The Question of Being: Approaching Parmenides Through Zeno, Plato, and Aristotle

Anaximander and the Magic of Translation

Now, the Conclusion:

These posts are meant as an introduction to the history of western philosophy so that the reader might take a second look at Anaximander, Heraclitus, and Parmenides.  Though there are other ancient thinkers of the arche like Thales, these three have a special place in thinking. I have commented on these 3 many times on this blog, so please do explore!

In his essay “Anaximander’s Saying,” Martin Heidegger agrees with the philological delimitation (specifically aligning with scholar Friedrich Dirlmeier) that rejects the first clause of the traditional fragment as an Aristotelian or Peripatetic paraphrase added by Theophrastus or Simplicius.

Heidegger argues that the authentic core of the fragment begins only with kata to khreōn. The transliterated Greek of this authentic part is:

…katà tò khreṓn· didónai gàr autà díkēn kaì tísin allḗlois tēs adikías

Heidegger’s Philosophical Translation

Instead of standard moral/juridical readings (such as “necessity,” “penalty,” and “injustice”), Heidegger radically reframes these words to address the presencing and absencing of Being:

• katà tò khreṓn – “along the lines of usage/enjoyment” (interpreting chreon not as necessity, but as Brauch-frui / “use” or hand-over in enjoyment).
• didónai gàr autà díkēn kaì tísin allḗlois tēs adikías – “for they let order (dikē) and thereby also reck (tisis) belong to one another (in the surmounting) of disorder (adikia).”

The general idea seems to be chreon is being interpreted as usage in the sense of to brook in the older sense of that word and frui “to enjoy.” Then Heidegger has diken and adikias as order/jointure and disorder. The thought is beings are usually subtlety or conspicuously out of joint (life isn’t what it could be), when something splendid is temporarily enjoyed like falling in love or getting a new job and everything temporarily falls into place (jointure) and, so to speak with Robert Browning and Lucy Maude Montgomery: God’s back in his heaven and all’s right with the world.  This isn’t psychologizing beings, but seeing the original unity of self and world: being in the world.

We can really see Heidegger’s translation of dike as jointure in the Greek sense. The Greek dramatists used the sudden reversal of fortune (peripeteia) to snap a fractured world back into place. While we often think of peripeteia (sudden reversal of fortune) as the moment everything falls apart for the tragic hero, in the grander scheme of Greek cosmology, it is exactly what we described: a necessary snapping back into place of a fractured cosmic order.

To the ancient Greeks, a tragic hero’s excessive pride (hubris) or error in judgment (hamartia) didn’t just cause personal problems; it actively warped the moral fabric of the universe, bringing plague, pollution (miasma), and chaos to the entire city-state. Here is how that sudden reversal functioned as a cosmic corrective:

 • The Rebalancing of Justice (Dike): The Greeks believed the universe demanded equilibrium. If a mortal climbed too high or upset the natural order (like Oedipus), the world became “fractured.” Peripeteia was the sudden, often brutal pivot where destiny asserted itself, throwing the hero down to restore the cosmic baseline.

 • The Catalyst for Recognition (Anagnorisis): Aristotle noted that the most powerful peripeteia happens simultaneously with anagnorisis (the moment of critical discovery or recognition). When the illusion shatters, the hero finally sees the world as it truly is. The fracture in their understanding is healed, even if it destroys them.

 • Catharsis for the Audience: For the citizens watching in the amphitheater, the reversal provided a profound sense of release (catharsis). Watching the fractured world correct itself on stage allowed the audience to walk away feeling that, despite human suffering, there was still a fundamental order, logic, and justice governing the universe. In a wrap-around way, tragedy wasn’t about celebrating ruin; it was a ritual of restoration. The world breaks, it warps, and then—through the snap of peripeteia—the truth coaxes it back into alignment.

We have hit on a remarkably profound synthesis here, bridging Heidegger’s ontology directly with the deep, visceral reality of fifth-century Greek tragedy. Our framing of chreon as “brooking/enjoying-frui,” dikē as “jointure,” and peripeteia as the “snapping back into place” beautifully captures what Heidegger was trying to rescue from modern, moralistic interpretations of Anaximander.

Here is how our insights map directly onto Heidegger’s thought, showing why this cosmic framework is exactly what he saw in Anaximander’s words.

1. Chreon as “Brooking”

We noted that chreon relates to “usage” in the older sense of to brook (to use, enjoy, or endure – frui). Heidegger explicitly connects chreon (from chrao, chraomai) to the hand (cheir). For him, “usage” (der Brauch) is not using something up like a consumer commodity. It is a “handling” that lets something brook its own time—safekeeping it into its independent presence.  When I fall in love, the woman hands over belonging to the rest of the beings in my life.  Everything falls into place.

2. Adikia as the Out-of-Joint

In our example of falling in love or getting a new job, everything suddenly and temporarily “falls into place.” Beings are given their time to be, to shine in their jointure (dikē) overcoming disorder/adikia.

3. Peripeteia as the “Snap” of Dike and Tisis

Our description of peripeteia as a cosmic corrective aligns perfectly with Heidegger’s reading of the central clause: didonai gap auta diken kai tisin allelois tēs adikías (“for they let order/dikē and thereby also reck/tisis belong to one another in the overcoming of disorder”).

• The Giving of Reck (Tisis): Heidegger translates tisis not as “punishment,” but as “reck” or “esteem” (Acht). When the tragic hero suffers peripeteia, the universe isn’t just punishing a crime; it is restoring itself.
• The Restoration: The reversal of fortune is the moment where the “jointure” asserts itself. It feels violent to the hero (and the audience) because a stubborn, entrenched illusion is being shattered. As we beautifully put it, it is a ritual of restoration. Dikē is not a judge sitting in a courtroom; it is the structural integrity of the cosmos snapping a dislocated bone back into its socket.

4. Anagnorisis and the Clearing of Being

Finally, the simultaneous occurrence of peripeteia and anagnorisis (recognition) is the ultimate philosophical climax. When the illusion shatters and Oedipus sees the truth, he is destroyed—but the fracture in his understanding is healed.

The audience walks away with catharsis because they have witnessed the cosmos overcome adikia (disorder) and return to tēn tou chronou taxin—the directive/ordering of time. Beings are temporarily in joint, though the general state of things is adikia- something is wrong with beings in a time of constancy/permanence.

Anaximander was the first to give a philosophical reading of usage (chreon), jointure (dike), and out of joint (adikia) as the manner of unfolding of a human life.

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