In The Logos of Heraclitus Eva Brann introduces Heraclitus as “An engaged solitary, an inward-turned observer of the world, inventor of the first of philosophical genres, the thought-compacted aphorism,” “teasingly obscure in reputation, but hard-hittingly clear in fact,” “now tersely mordant, now generously humane.” In Brann’s view, Heraclitus is the West’s first philosopher. To make her case, she sets herself the task to understand the thought of Heraclitus as it is found in the passages themselves instead of focusing on their fragmented or paraphrased nature.