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DEMOCRITUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 4 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DEMOCRITUS , probably the greatest of the See also:

Greek See also:physical philosophers, was a native of See also:Abdera in See also:Thrace, or as some say —probably wrongly—of See also:Miletus (Diog. Laert. ix. 34). Our knowledge of his See also:life is based almost entirely on tradition of an untrustworthy See also:kind. He seems to have been See also:born about 470 or 46o B.c., and was, therefore, an older contemporary of See also:Socrates. He inherited a considerable See also:property, which enabled him to travel widely in the See also:East in See also:search of See also:information. In See also:Egypt he settled for seven years, during which he studied the mathematical and physical systems of the See also:ancient See also:schools. The extent to which he was influenced by the Magi and the Eastern astrologists is a See also:matter of pure conjecture. He returned from his travels impoverished; one tradition says that he received 500 talents from his See also:fellow-citizens, and that a public funeral was decreed him. Another tradition states that he was regarded as insane by the Abderitans, and that See also:Hippocrates was summoned to cure him. Diodorus Siculus'tells us that he died at the See also:age of ninety; others make him as much as twenty years older. His See also:works, according to See also:Diogenes Laertius, numbered seventy-two, and were characterized by a purity of See also:style which compares favourably with that of See also:Plato.

The absurd epithet, the " laughing philosopher," applied to him by some unknown and very superficial thinker, may possibly have contributed in some measure to the fact that his importance was for centuries overlooked. It is interesting, however, to See also:

notice that See also:Bacon (De Principiis) assigns to him his true See also:place in the See also:history of thought, and points out that both in his own See also:day and later " in the times of See also:Roman learning " he was spoken of in terms of the highest praise. In the variety of his knowledge, and in the importance of his See also:influence on both Greek and See also:modern See also:speculation he was the See also:Aristotle of the 5th See also:century, while the sanity of his metaphysical theory has led many to regard him as the equal, if not the See also:superior, of Plato. His views may be treated under the following heads: 1. The Atoms and Cosmology (adopted in See also:part at least from the doctrines of Leucippus, though the relations between the two are hopelessly obscure). While agreeing with the Eleatics as to the eternal sameness of Being (nothing can arise out of nothing; nothing can be reduced to nothing), Democritus followed the physicists in denying its oneness and immobility. See also:Movement and See also:plurality being necessary to explain the phenomena of the universe and impossible without space (not-Being), he asserted that the latter had an equal right with Being to be considered existent. Being is the Full (Wipes, plenum); not-Being is the Void (ICevbv, vacuum), the See also:infinite space in which moved the infinite number of atoms into which the single Being of the Eleatics was broken up. These atoms are eternal and invisible; absolutely small, so small that their See also:size cannot be diminished (hence the name Grottos, "indivisible "); absolutely full and incompressible, they are without pores and entirely fill the space they occupy; homogeneous, differing only in figure (as A from N), arrangement (as AN from NA), position (as N is Z on its See also:side), magnitude (and consequently in See also:weight, although some authorities dispute this). But while the atoms thus differ in quantity, their See also:differences of quality are only apparent, due to the impressions caused on our senses by different configurations and combinations of atoms. A thing is only hot or See also:cold, sweet or See also:bitter, hard or soft by See also:convention (v6µw); the only things that exist in reality (led) are the atoms and the void. See also:Locke's distinction between See also:primary and secondary qualities is here anticipated.

Thus, the atoms of See also:

water and See also:iron are the same, but those of the former, being smooth and See also:round, and therefore unable to See also:hook on to one another, See also:roll over and over like small globes, whereas the atoms of iron, being rough, jagged and uneven, cling together and See also:form a solid See also:body. Since all phenomena are composed of the same eternal atoms (just as a tragedy and a See also:comedy contain the same letters) it may be said that nothing comes into being or perishes. in the See also:absolute sense of the words (cf. the modern " indestructibility of matter " and " conservation of See also:energy "), although the compounds of the atoms are liable to increase and decrease, See also:appearance and disappearance —in other words, to See also:birth and See also:death. As the atoms are eternal and uncaused, so is See also:motion; it has its origin in a preceding motion, and so on ad infinitum. For the Love and Hate of See also:Empedocles and the Nous (Intelligence) of Anaxagoras, Democritus substituted fixed and necessary See also:laws (not See also:chance; that is a misrepresentation due chiefly to See also:Cicero). Everything can be explained by a purely See also:mechanical (but not fortuitous) See also:system, in which there is no See also:room for the See also:idea of a See also:providence or an intelligent cause working with a view to an end. The origin of the universe was explained as follows. An infinite number of atoms was carried downwards through infinite space. The larger (and heavier), falling with greater velocity, overtook and collided with the smaller (and lighter), which were thereby forced upwards. This caused various lateral and contrary movements, resulting in a whirling movement (See also:Siva) resembling the rotation of Anaxagoras, whereby similar atoms were brought together (as in the winnowing of See also:grain) and See also:united to form larger bodies and worlds. Atoms and void being infinite in number and extent, and motion having always existed, there must always have been an infinite number of worlds, all consisting of similar atoms, in various stages of growth and decay. 2. The Soul.—Democritus devoted considerable See also:attention to the structure of the human body, the noblest portion of which he considered to be the soul, which everywhere pervades it, a psychic See also:atom being intercalated between two corporeal atoms.

Although, in accordance with his principles, Democritus was See also:

bound to regard the soul as material (composed of round, smooth, specially See also:mobile atoms, identified with the See also:fire-atoms floating in the See also:air), he admitted a distinction between it and the body, and is even said to have looked upon it as something divine. These all-pervading soul atoms exercise different functions in different See also:organs; the head• is the seat of See also:reason, the See also:heart of anger, the See also:liver of See also:desire. Life is maintained by the inhalation of fresh atoms to replace those lost by exhalation, and when respiration, and consequently the See also:supply of atoms, ceases, the result is death. It follows that the soul perishes with, and in the same sense as, the body. 3. See also:Perception.—Sensations are the changes produced in the soul by See also:external impressions, and are the result of contact, since every See also:action of one body (and all representations are corporeal phenomena) upon another is of the nature of a See also:shock. Certain emanations (6.rrop5oat, arr6t5l otat) or images (eta Oka) , consisting of subtle atoms, thrown off from the See also:surface of an See also:object, penetrate the body through the pores. On the principle that like acts upon like, the particular senses are only affected by that which resembles them. We see by means of the See also:eye alone, and hear by means of the See also:ear alone, these organs being best adapted to receive the images or See also:sound currents. The organs are thus merely conduits or passages through which the atoms pour into the soul. The eye, for example, is See also:damp and porous, and the See also:act of seeing consists in the reflection of the See also:image (beixeXov) mirrored on the smooth moist surface of the See also:pupil. To the interposition of air is due the fact that all visual images are to some extent blurred.

At the same See also:

time Democritus distinguished between obscure ((TKOTbl) See also:cognition, resting on sensation alone, and genuine (yvrtoirl), which is the result of inquiry by reason, and is concerned with atoms and void, the only real existences. This knowledge, however, he confessed was exceedingly difficult to attain. It is in Democritus first that we find a real See also:attempt to explain See also:colour. He regards See also:black, red, See also:white and See also:green as primary. White is characteristically smooth, i.e. casting no See also:shadow, even, See also:flat; black is uneven, rough, shadowy and so on. The other See also:colours result from various mixtures of these four, and are infinite in number. Colour itself is not See also:objective; it is found not in the ultimate plenum and vacuum, but only in derived See also:objects according to their physical qualities and relations. 4. See also:Theology.—The system of Democritus was altogether See also:anti theistic. But, although he rejected the notion of a deity taking part in the creation or See also:government of the universe, he yielded to popular See also:prejudice so far as to admit the existence of a class of beings, of the same form as men, grander, composed of very subtle atoms, less liable to See also:dissolution, but still mortal, dwelling in the upper regions of air. These beings also manifested them-selves to See also:man by means of images in dreams, communicated with him, and sometimes gave him an insight into the future. Some of them were benevolent, others See also:malignant.

According to See also:

Plutarch, Democritus recognized one See also:god under the form of a fiery See also:sphere, the soul of the See also:world, but this idea is probably of later origin. The popular belief in gods was attributed by Democritus to the desire to explain extraordinary phenomena (See also:thunder, See also:lightning, earthquakes) by reference to superhuman agency. 5. See also:Ethics.—Democritus's moral system—the first collection of ethical precepts which deserves the name—strongly resembles the negative side of the system of See also:Epicurus. The summum bonum is the maximum of See also:pleasure with the minimum of See also:pain. But true pleasure is not sensual enjoyment; it has its principle in the soul. It consists not in the See also:possession of See also:wealth or flocks and herds, but in See also:good See also:humour, in the just disposition and See also:constant tranquillity of the. soul. Hence the See also:necessity of avoiding extremes; too much and too little are alike evils. True happiness consists in taking See also:advantage of what one has and being content with it (see ETHICS).

End of Article: DEMOCRITUS

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