Heráclito a la luz de Lao Tsé. Contribuciones desde la Filosofía Perenne

Abstract

Around the Sixth Century BC, a time called the “axial age of mankind” by Karl Jaspers, we find thinkers who establish an enigmatic relationship with the past in different cultures. Among them, we selected two who are situated at diametrically opposed parts of the globe: Heraclitus and Lao Tzu. Our work aims to make a comparative reading of the works of these two thinkers according to the premises of the Perennial Philosophy, following Rene Guenon ́s studies on it. The crux of ours reflections is the unity of Being and how each thinker understands it. Also, we try to distinguish if, in both systems, the possibility of an instance prior to the pure Being is hinted at, a topic which is no less important than the previous one, since it would dis-tinguish these thinkers ́s metaphysical conceptions from the Aristotelian ones.