Heraclitus, Seaford, and Reversible Exchange

In this article we identify a characteristic pattern of Heraclitus's thought and language, the "figure of reversible exchange." We suggest that this figure allows Heraclitus to propose an ontological structure consisting of two intersecting circuits of relations: a pre-temporal reversible exchange between Being and Becoming and between One and Many and a temporal reversible exchange within the Many as the very process of Becoming. Against Richard Seaford's interpretation of Heraclitus's thought as a reflection of a new worldview predicated on universal exchange value, the Heraclitus fragments will be read as suggesting that exchange value emerges within rhythms of concrete, temporal use value. We shall argue that this instantiates the wider relation Heraclitus proposes between Being and Becoming.