Thinking is common to all
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ξυνόν ἐστι πᾶσι τὸ φρονέειν
Thinking is common to all.
Preserved by Stobaeus, who groups it with B114 and B116 among Heraclitus's sayings on mind and law. A single terse line: the power of thought (τὸ φρονέειν) is shared by all — the positive premise beneath the political argument of B114.
τὸ φρονέειν — thinking, having sense — is ξυνόν, common to all. It is the terse kernel of B114 and the counterweight to Heraclitus's usual complaint that the many are ἀξύνετοι, un-put-together. The capacity is universal; what is not universal is its use. Everyone has the equipment to grasp the common Logos, yet most live as though shut inside a private world (B2).
The line also carries the buried pun Heraclitus loves: <em>xynon</em>, 'common,' all but sounds out <em>xyn noōi</em>, 'with sense.' To think is precisely to share in the common — the private thought that fences itself off is, by the very sound of the word, senseless. Democritus and the later tradition would echo the democratic-sounding claim, but in Heraclitus it is an indictment as much as a gift: the door is unlocked for everyone, and almost no one walks through.
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