Philosophy
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- Category: Politics: Philosophy
- Date Submitted: 09/06/2012 01:40 PM
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Leucippus and Democritis: The Atomists
Phi/105
8/18/2012
Leucippus and Democritis: The Atomists
The Pre-Socratic philosophers I found to be the most compelling is the ideas of Leucippicus and Democritis. These early Greek philosophers are also called the Atomists. The Atomists had two leading ideas which were all things were created of tiny indestructible particles called atoms and the idea of motion needs no explanation. While other early philosophers had many astounding ideas I thought the Atomists were absolutely fascinating. The atomists can be attributed to atomism. Leucippicus for the basic idea and Democritis for working out the details on that basic idea.
The atomists believed everything is made up of atoms composed of the exact same matter but there is variation in size, shape, and weight(This may be considered controversial.) They believed atoms are infinite and continuously in motion thus the varying combinations come and go. The combining, disassembly, and re-assembly can be seen within many everyday things such as the generation, decay, erosion, or even the burning of everyday materials. (Moore, B., & Bruder, K. 2011) Sometimes the Atomists were accused of maintaining that chance collision of atoms cause them to come together to form a particular set of objects and not some other set of objects. The Atomists believed the motion of atoms had no real purpose but yet they also believed the atomic particles operated within the strict physical law. (Moore, B., & Bruder, K. 2011) They also held the strong belief things are not left to chance and things do not just happen out of sheer coincidence.
While many Greek philosophers thought motion needed a void where the object could change positions. Another Pre-Socratic philosopher gave a highly convincing argument that empty space or void was impossible. (Moore, B., & Bruder, K. 2011) For this reason-empty space is nothing and nothing does not exist. To the atomists, it was apparent...
Phi/105
8/18/2012
Leucippus and Democritis: The Atomists
The Pre-Socratic philosophers I found to be the most compelling is the ideas of Leucippicus and Democritis. These early Greek philosophers are also called the Atomists. The Atomists had two leading ideas which were all things were created of tiny indestructible particles called atoms and the idea of motion needs no explanation. While other early philosophers had many astounding ideas I thought the Atomists were absolutely fascinating. The atomists can be attributed to atomism. Leucippicus for the basic idea and Democritis for working out the details on that basic idea.
The atomists believed everything is made up of atoms composed of the exact same matter but there is variation in size, shape, and weight(This may be considered controversial.) They believed atoms are infinite and continuously in motion thus the varying combinations come and go. The combining, disassembly, and re-assembly can be seen within many everyday things such as the generation, decay, erosion, or even the burning of everyday materials. (Moore, B., & Bruder, K. 2011) Sometimes the Atomists were accused of maintaining that chance collision of atoms cause them to come together to form a particular set of objects and not some other set of objects. The Atomists believed the motion of atoms had no real purpose but yet they also believed the atomic particles operated within the strict physical law. (Moore, B., & Bruder, K. 2011) They also held the strong belief things are not left to chance and things do not just happen out of sheer coincidence.
While many Greek philosophers thought motion needed a void where the object could change positions. Another Pre-Socratic philosopher gave a highly convincing argument that empty space or void was impossible. (Moore, B., & Bruder, K. 2011) For this reason-empty space is nothing and nothing does not exist. To the atomists, it was apparent...