Fire as Symbol of the World: Heraclitus’ Influence in Fink’s Cosmology

This chapter investigates the role of Heraclitus’ philosophy in Eugen Fink’s cosmological ontology, arguing that Fink’s mature philosophy of play cannot be fully understood without reference to Heraclitus’ symbolic and authentic philosophy. By tracing the chronological development of Fink’s interpretations – from his 1932 notes to his 1966 seminar co-conducted with Martin Heidegger – the analysis uncovers how Heraclitean symbolic and authentic philosophy critically informed Fink’s reconceptualization of phenomenology. In bridging Presocratic thought with twentieth-century phenomenology, this study not only clarifies a neglected dimension of Fink’s work but also reasserts Heraclitus’ relevance to contemporary debates on dynamic ontology.