The birth of philosophical method: inquiry and discovery in Heraclitus

The article explains Heraclitus motives for introducing a philosophical method of inquiry, didzesis, known later on as zetesis. The method can be traced back to Xenophanes, while the term seems to be introduced by Parmenides. The philosophical inquiry is opposed to spontaneous discovery (heuresis). In its essence it can be compared with a route sketched on a map: the things sought are first met as obstacles (aporia) on the road, then their nature is recognized on the basis of certain signs and familiar features, a sort of preliminary knowledge. This kind of inquiry is very difficult, and Heraclitus compares it with goldmining. So let us call the method a "philosophical gold-digging" and observe that, if successful, it yields rare but very valuable results. The method is universal: it can be applied to the sense-perceptible world, human souls, as well as universal properties of things, i.e., the realm of intelligible.