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From Myth to Mind
November 23, 1998
From Pluralism to Atomism:
Empedocles & Democritus
I. Empedocles -- Scientist & Mystic [the Shaman as 'medicine-man' (iatromanteis ) unites the two]
A. [b. 495/490 - d. 435/430 BCE] Agrigentum, Sicily (& Peloponnese, Greece). Empedocles was from a wealthy & distinguished family. Philosopher, Statesman, Poet, Religious teacher (shaman, mystic) Physiologist (doctor).
B. "Inventor of rhetoric" (Aristotle); "founder of Italian medicine" (Galen, 2nd Century); Lucretius admired his hexametric poetry.
C. His works: Peri physeos ("On Nature": 400 surviving lines) & Katharmoi ("Purifications": fewer than 100 verses)
D. Influenced by : Parmenides (attempted to rescue earlier philosophies from P.'s criticism); Heraclitus and Hippocrates (origins of idea of 4 elements & relation to body; H.'s concept of eternal cosmic strife); Pythagoras (influence seen in numerical analysis of bone: 2 parts earth, 2 parts water, 4 parts fire, idea of psychic catharsis & transmigration of souls)
1. Influence of Parmenides [the Goddess Muse of the Way of Truth] in (Barnes, 163-164:
"But, O gods, turn the madness of men from my tongue,
and from holy mouths channel forth a pure spring.
And, you, Muse of long memory, white-armed maiden,
I beseech: what it is right for mortals to hear,
send to me, driving the well-reined chariot of piety..."
E. Foreshadowing of Modern Physics: Conservation of Energy, i.e., nothing really comes into being or is destroyed, but things transform depending on the ratio of basic substances to one another).
The four elements are eternal. Sometimes they are called by names of gods: "bright Zeus, life-bringing Hera, Aidoneus, and Nestis, who waters with her tears the mortal fountains." (Barnes, 173 - 174)
F. Love & Strife: the cosmic forces that bring together and separate all substances. Neither force predominates in the real world. Love was predominant before creation when all the substances were mingled in a unity. Strife is the cause of creation, which is a separating out. The Sphere to which the cosmos periodically returns is an undivided state.
1. Intelligible things are made similar by Love
2. Perceptible things are made dissimilar by Strife (see Barnes, 169)
3. The Vortex (as in Anaximander, Anaxagoras, Democritus): [Barnes, 170]:
4. Synthesis of Heraclitus & Parmenides: (Barnes, 166):
"Thus insofar as they have learned to become one from many
and again become many as the one grows apart,
to that extent they come into being and have no lasting life;
but insofar as they never cease their continual change,
to that extent they exist forever, unmoving in a circle."
G. Primitive Theory of Evolution: All earthly life came from trees and vegetation. At first all species were indistinguishable and had not developed genders. Primitive theory of survival of the fittest. Empedocles had long-term interest in plants & embryology (led to later interest in circulatory systems and respiration). Considered the process of thought to be in the blood (and not brain).
1. (Barnes, 167):
"In Anger they have different forms and are all apart,
but in Love they come together and are desired by one another.
For from these comes everything which was and which is and will be -
trees spring up, and men and women
and beasts and birds and fish that live in the water
and even gods, long-lived and highest in honor.
For these themselves exist, and passing through one another
they become different; for the mixture interchanges them."
2. (Barnes, 181):
"Many grew double-headed..."
H. Theory of Perception: based on the mutual attraction of like substances within and without the body (a ray goes out from the body to mingle with a ray emitted from the object).
I. Transmigration of Souls: Sinners must wander 30,000 seasons through many mortal bodies and jostled from one element to another. Purification from the consumption of animal food is one method of breaking out of the cycle.
1. "There is an oracle of necessity (Moira), an ancient decree of the gods,..." (Barnes, 193)
2. Reference to Pythagoras: (Barnes, 199: "Among them was a man of immense knowledge..."
3. Sextus Empiricus Quote: (Barnes, 200)
J. Shamanism: (Barnes, 162: "What drugs there are..."; ); (192: "O friends who live in the great town of yellow Acragas...);
II. Democritus and Atomism:
A. (b. circa 460 in Abdera, Thrace - d. circa 370 BCE). Was a wealthy citizen like many of the other Presocratic philosophers. According to testimony in Diogenes, he was said to be one year older than Socrates. He is said to have traveled widely in the east [D.L.: "He was a pupil of certain Magians and Chaldaeans...From these men, while still a boy, he learned theology and astronomy.." ], and to have lived almost 100 years.
"According to Demetrius in his book on Men of the Same Name and Antisthenes in his Successions of Philosophers, he traveled into Egypt to learn geometry from the priests, and he also went into Persia to visit the Chaldaeans as well as to the Red Sea. Some say that he associated with the Gymnosophists in India and went to Aethiopia." [Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, Vol. II, trans. R.D. Hicks, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1931 (1991), p. 445]
B. His Works: Democritus has the reputation for being the most prolific writer of the Presocratic philosophers, and his writings are said by Diogenes Laertius to number 73. He read aloud his treatise, theGreat Diacosmos ["the best of all his works ", D.L., op.cit., p.449]. [see Diogenes' list of Democritus' work: op.cit. 455 - 461].
C. Presocratic Influences on Democritus: He is said [D.L., Vol. II, p.445] to have met and studied with Leucippus (the first to be credited with an atomic theory) and Anaxagoras. His criticisms of the latter philosopher's cosmology are said by Diogenes Laertius to derive from Democritus's inability to gain Anaxagoras's favor. Pythagoras and Philolaus: [testimonies from Thrasylus, Glaucus and Apollodorus]:
"''He would seem,' says Thrasylus, 'to have been an admirer of the Pythagoreans. Moreover, he mentions Pythagoras himself, praising him in a work of his own entitled Pythagoras. he seems to have taken all his ideas from him and, if chronology did not stand in the way, he might have been thought his pupil.'" [D.L., op.cit., p. 447].
"Again, he alludes to the doctrine of the One held by Parmenides and Zeno, they being evidently the persons most talked about in his day; he also mentions Protagoras of Abdera, who, it is admitted, was a contemporary of Socrates." [D.L.,op.cit., 451].
D. Democritus's influence on his Contemporaries: Plato --a negative influence. There is not one reference to Democritus in Plato, and this is said by Diogenes to be purposeful:
"Aristoxenus in his Historical Notes affirms that Plato wished to burn all the writings of Democritus that he could collect, but that Amyclas and Clinias the Pythagoreans prevented him, saying that there was no advantage in doing so, for already the books were widely circulated." [D.L.,op.cit., p. 451].
Aristotle, however, admired Democritus, whose work became the basis for the philosophy of Epicurus. Aristotle's pupil Theophrastus wrote in detail on Democritus' theory of sense-perception (see Barnes, 257-259).
E. Major Contribution: Atomic Theory of the Universe. Anticipated the distinction between primary and secondary qualities of physical phenomena (John Locke). Foreshadowed theory of the conservation of energy and the indestructibility of matter.
1. First Principles (archaí ): Atoms (Being) & Empty Space (Non-being) or "the full and the void". "Everything else is merely though to exist." [D.L., op.cit., 453]. All of this is already present in Leucippus (see Barnes, 242-243).
2. The worlds are unlimited. They come into being and perish, BUT "Nothing can come into being from that which is not nor pass away into that which is not." [D.L., op.cit., 455]. Atoms are unlimited in size and number.
3. The Atoms "are borne along in the whole universe in a vortex, and thereby generate all composite things -- fire, water, air, earth; for even these are conglomerations of given atoms." [D.L., op.cit., 455].
4. "All things happen by virtue of necessity, the vortex being the cause of the creation of all things, and this he calls necessity." (i.e., MOIRA) [D.L., op.cit., 455]. Leucippus had already stated this: "No thing happens in vain, but everything for a reason and by necessity." (Barnes, 243).
F. Materialist Theory of Knowledge: "Speech is the shadow of action "
1. "The sun and moon have been composed of such smooth and spherical masses [i.e., atoms], and so also the soul, which is identical with reason. We see by virtue of the impact of images upon our eyes." [D.L., op.cit., 455].
2. "The qualities of things exist merely by convention; in nature there is nothing but atoms and void space." [D.L., op.cit., 455]. (see Galen in Barnes, 255).
a."By convention sweet and by convention bitter, by convention hot, by convention cold, by convention colour; in reality atoms and void."[Democritus, quoted by Sextus Empiricus in Barnes, 252-253.]
b."This argument too shows that in reality we know nothing about anything, but our belief in each case is a changing of shape; "[Democritus, quoted by Sextus Empiricus in Barnes, 252-253.]
3. There are two kinds of knowledge: knowledge from the senses is "dark" and unreliable, but knowledge by way of the understanding is "genuine".
G. On the Nature of Philosophy: To Cultivate Moderation & Temperance
"Medicine, according to Democritus, cures the diseases of the body, and wisdom clears the soul of passions." ....
"He calls happiness contentment, well-being, harmony, orderliness, tranquillity. It is constituted by distinguishing and discriminating among pleasures, and this is the noblest and most advantageous for men. [Clement quoted in Barnes, 265].