Democritus (; el, Δημόκριτος, ''Dēmókritos'', meaning "chosen of the people"; – ) was an
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
pre-Socratic philosopher
Pre-Socratic philosophy, also known as early Greek philosophy, is ancient Greek philosophy before Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the universe, but the inquiries of thes ...
from
Abdera, primarily remembered today for his formulation of an
atomic theory
Atomic theory is the scientific theory that matter is composed of particles called atoms. Atomic theory traces its origins to an ancient philosophical tradition known as atomism. According to this idea, if one were to take a lump of matter ...
of the
universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. ...
. None of his work has survived.
Life
Although many anecdotes about Democritus' life survive, their authenticity cannot be verified and modern scholars doubt their accuracy. Democritus was said to be born in the city of
Abdera in
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...
, an
Ionian colony of
Teos
Teos ( grc, Τέως) or Teo was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, on a peninsula between Chytrium and Myonnesus. It was founded by Minyans from Orchomenus, Ionians and Boeotians, but the date of its foundation is unknown. Teos was ...
,. Ancient accounts of his life have claimed that he lived to a very old age, with some writers claiming that he was over a hundred years old at the time of his death.
Philosophy and science
states that the relation between Democritus and his predecessor
Leucippus
Leucippus (; el, Λεύκιππος, ''Leúkippos''; fl. 5th century BCE) is a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who has been credited as the first philosopher to develop a theory of atomism.
Leucippus' reputation, even in antiquity, was obscured ...
is not clear; while earlier ancient sources such as
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
and
Theophrastus
Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routle ...
credit Leucippus with the invention of atomism and credit its doctrines to both philosophers, later sources only credit Democritus, making definitive identification of specific doctrines difficult.
Atomic hypothesis
The theory of Democritus held that everything is composed of "atoms," which are physically, but not geometrically, indivisible; that between atoms, there lies empty space; that atoms are indestructible, and have always been and always will be in motion; that there is an infinite number of atoms and of kinds of atoms, which differ in shape and size. Of the mass of atoms, Democritus said, "The more any indivisible exceeds, the heavier it is." However, his exact position on atomic weight is disputed. His exact contributions are difficult to disentangle from those of his mentor
Leucippus
Leucippus (; el, Λεύκιππος, ''Leúkippos''; fl. 5th century BCE) is a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who has been credited as the first philosopher to develop a theory of atomism.
Leucippus' reputation, even in antiquity, was obscured ...
, as they are often mentioned together in texts. Their speculation on atoms, taken from Leucippus, bears a passing and partial resemblance to the 19th-century understanding of atomic structure that has led some to regard Democritus as more of a scientist than other Greek philosophers; however, their ideas rested on very different bases.
Democritus, along with Leucippus and
Epicurus, proposed the earliest views on the shapes and connectivity of atoms. They reasoned that the solidness of the material corresponded to the shape of the atoms involved. Using analogies from humans'
sense experiences, he gave a picture or an image of an atom that distinguished them from each other by their shape, their size, and the arrangement of their parts. Moreover, connections were explained by material links in which single atoms were supplied with attachments: some with hooks and eyes, others with balls and sockets.
The Democritean atom is an inert solid (merely excluding other bodies from its volume) that interacts with other atoms mechanically. In contrast, modern, quantum-mechanical atoms interact via electric and magnetic force fields and are far from inert.
The theory of the atomists appears to be more nearly aligned with that of modern science than any other theory of antiquity. However, the similarity with modern concepts of science can be confusing when trying to understand where the hypothesis came from. Classical atomists could not have had an empirical basis for modern concepts of atoms and molecules.
The
atomistic void hypothesis was a response to the paradoxes of
Parmenides and
Zeno
Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to:
People
* Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name
Philosophers
* Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes
* Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...
, the founders of metaphysical logic, who put forth difficult-to-answer arguments in favor of the idea that there can be no movement. They held that any movement would require a void—which is nothing—but a nothing cannot exist. The Parmenidean position was "You say there ''is'' a void; therefore the void is not nothing; therefore there is not the void." The position of Parmenides appeared validated by the observation that where there seems to be nothing there is air, and indeed even where there is not matter there is ''something'', for instance light waves.
The atomists agreed that motion required a void, but simply ignored the argument of Parmenides on the grounds that motion was an observable fact. Therefore, they asserted, there must be a void. This idea survived in a refined version as Newton's theory of
absolute space Absolute may refer to:
Companies
* Absolute Entertainment, a video game publisher
* Absolute Radio, (formerly Virgin Radio), independent national radio station in the UK
* Absolute Software Corporation, specializes in security and data risk manage ...
, which met the logical requirements of attributing reality to not-being. Einstein's
theory of relativity
The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in ...
provided a new answer to Parmenides and Zeno, with the insight that space by itself is relative and cannot be separated from time as part of a generally curved space-time manifold. Consequently, Newton's refinement is now considered superfluous.
Democritus held that originally the universe was composed of nothing but tiny atoms churning in chaos, until they collided together to form larger units—including the earth and everything on it. He surmised that
there are many worlds, some growing, some decaying; some with no sun or moon, some with several. He held that every world has a beginning and an end and that a world could be destroyed by collision with another world.
Ethics and politics
The ethics and politics of Democritus come to us mostly in the form of maxims. As such, the ''
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' has gone as far as to say that: "despite the large number of ethical sayings, it is difficult to construct a coherent account of Democritus's ethical views," noting that there is a "difficulty of deciding which fragments are genuinely Democritean."
Mathematics
![Plane intersecting cone 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Plane_intersecting_cone_2.png)
Democritus was also a pioneer of mathematics and geometry in particular. According to
Archimedes, Democritus was among the first to observe that a cone and pyramid with the same base area and height has one-third the volume of a cylinder or prism respectively, a result which Archimedes states was later proved by
Eudoxus of Cnidus.
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
also reports that Democritus worked on a problem involving the
cross-section of a cone that
Thomas Heath suggests may be an early version of
infinitesimal calculus.
Anthropology
Democritus thought that the first
humans
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
lived an anarchic and animal sort of life, going out to forage individually and living off the most palatable herbs and the fruit which grew wild on the trees. They were driven together into societies for fear of wild animals, he said. He believed that these early people had no language, but that they gradually began to articulate their expressions, establishing symbols for every sort of object, and in this manner came to understand each other. He says that the earliest men lived laboriously, having none of the utilities of life; clothing, houses, fire, domestication, and farming were unknown to them. Democritus presents the early period of mankind as one of learning by trial and error, and says that each step slowly led to more discoveries; they took refuge in the caves in winter, stored fruits that could be preserved, and through reason and keenness of mind came to build upon each new idea.
Aesthetics
Later Greek historians consider Democritus to have established
aesthetics
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...
as a subject of investigation and study, as he wrote theoretically on poetry and fine art long before authors such as
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
. Specifically, Thrasyllus identified six works in the philosopher's oeuvre which had belonged to aesthetics as a discipline, but only fragments of the relevant works are extant; hence of all Democritus's writings on these matters, only a small percentage of his thoughts and ideas can be known.
Works
Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal sour ...
attributes several works to Democritus, but none of them have survived in a complete form.
; Ethics: ''Pythagoras'', ''On the Disposition of the Wise Man'', ''On the Things in Hades'', ''Tritogenia'',''On Manliness or On Virtue'', ''The Horn of Amaltheia'', ''On Contentment'', ''Ethical Commentaries''
; Natural science: ''The Great World-System'' , ''Cosmography'',''On the Planets'', ''On Nature'', ''On the Nature of Man or On Flesh'' (two books), ''On the Mind'', ''On the Senses'',''On Flavours'', ''On Colours'',''On Different Shapes'', ''On Changing Shape'', ''Buttresses'', ''On Images'', ''On Logic'' (three books)
; Nature: ''Heavenly Causes'', ''Atmospheric Causes'',''Terrestrial Causes'', ''Causes Concerned with Fire and Things in Fire'', ''Causes Concerned with Sounds'', ''Causes Concerned with Seeds and Plants and Fruits'', ''Causes Concerned with Animals'' (three books), ''Miscellaneous Causes'', ''On Magnets''
; Mathematics: ''On Different Angles or On contact of Circles and Spheres'', ''On Geometry'', ''Geometry'', ''Numbers'', ''On Irrational Lines and Solids'' (two books), ''Planispheres'', ''On the Great Year or Astronomy'' (a calendar) ''Contest of the Waterclock'', ''Description of the Heavens'', ''Geography'', ''Description of the Poles'', ''Description of Rays of Light'',
; Literature: ''On the Rhythms and Harmony'', ''On Poetry'', ''On the Beauty of Verses'', ''On Euphonious and Harsh-sounding Letters'', ''On Homer'', ''On Song'', ''On Verbs'', ''Names''
; Technical works: ''Prognosis'',''On Diet'', ''Medical Judgment'', ''Causes Concerning Appropriate and Inappropriate Occasions'', ''On Farming'', ''On Painting'', ''Tactics'', ''Fighting in Armor''
; Commentaries: ''On the Sacred Writings of Babylon'', ''On Those in Meroe'', ''Circumnavigation of the Ocean'', ''On History'', ''Chaldaean Account'', ''Phrygian Account'', ''On Fever and Coughing Sicknesses'', ''Legal Causes'', ''Problems''
A collections of sayings credited to Democritus have been preserved by
Stobaeus
Joannes Stobaeus (; grc-gre, Ἰωάννης ὁ Στοβαῖος; fl. 5th-century AD), from Stobi in Macedonia, was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. The work was originally divided into two volumes containin ...
, as well as a collection of sayings ascribed to "
Democrates
Democrates (; grc, Δημοκράτης) was a Pythagorean philosopher about whom little is known. It is said that he was the founder of the basic concepts of the modern era of democracy. Apollonius of Tyana wrote at least one letter to a Demo ...
" which some scholars including
Diels and Kranz have also ascribed to Democritus.
Legacy
Diogenes Laertius claims that Plato disliked Democritus so much that he wished to have all of his
books burned. He was nevertheless well known to his fellow northern-born philosopher
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
, and was the teacher of
Protagoras.
See also
*
Atom
Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons.
Every solid, liquid, gas, ...
*
John Dalton
*
Kanada Kanada may refer to:
*Kanada (philosopher), the Hindu sage who founded the philosophy of Vaisheshika
*Kanada (family of ragas), a group of ragas in Hindustani music
*Kanada (surname)
*Kanada Station, train station in Fukuoka, Japan
*Kannada, one of ...
*
Mochus
*
Pseudo-Democritus
Pseudo-Democritus is the name used by scholars for the anonymous authors of a number of Greek writings that were falsely attributed to the pre-Socratic philosopher Democritus ( 460–370 BC).
Several of these writings, most notably the ...
*
Vaisheshika
Vaisheshika or Vaiśeṣika ( sa, वैशेषिक) is one of the six schools of Indian philosophy (Vedic systems) from ancient India. In its early stages, the Vaiśeṣika was an independent philosophy with its own metaphysics, epistemolog ...
*
Democritus University of Thrace
The Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH; el, Δημοκρίτειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θράκης), established in July 1973, is based in Komotini, Greece and has campuses in the Thracian cities of Xanthi, Komotini, Alexandroupoli and O ...
*
National Centre of Scientific Research "DEMOKRITOS"
Notes
Citations
References
Ancient testimony
*
Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC). '' Bibliotheca historica''.
*
*
Petronius (late 1st century AD). ''Satyricon
The ''Satyricon'', ''Satyricon'' ''liber'' (''The Book of Satyrlike Adventures''), or ''Satyrica'', is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as Titus Petr ...
.'' Trans. William Arrowsmith. New York: A Meridian Book, 1987.
*
Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus ( grc-gre, Σέξτος Ἐμπειρικός, ; ) was a Greek Pyrrhonist philosopher and Empiric school physician. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman Pyrrhonism, and bec ...
(). ''Adversus Mathematicos''.
Translations
*
Bakalis, Nikolaos (2005). ''Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics: Analysis and Fragments'', Trafford Publishing, .
* Freeman, Kathleen (2008). ''Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Complete Translation of the Fragments in
Diels Diels is the last name of several people:
* Rudolf Diels (1900–1957), German politician
* Otto Diels (1876–1954), German scientist noted for his work on the Diels–Alder reaction
* Ludwig Diels (1874–1945), German botanist
* Hermann Diels
...
'', Forgotten Books, .
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Bailey, C. (1928). ''The Greek Atomists and Epicurus''. Oxford.
* Barnes, Jonathan (1982). ''The Presocratic Philosophers'', Routledge Revised Edition.
*
*
* Guthrie, W. K. (1979) ''A History of Greek Philosophy – The Presocratic tradition from Parmenides to Democritus'', Cambridge University Press.
* Kirk, G. S., J. E. Raven and M. Schofield (1983). ''The Presocratic Philosophers'', Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition.
*
*
*
External links
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Democritus
5th-century BC philosophers
4th-century BC Greek people
4th-century BC writers
Abderites
Ancient Greek atomist philosophers
Ancient Greek epistemologists
Ancient Greek mathematicians
Ancient Greek metaphysicians
Metic philosophers in Classical Athens
Presocratic philosophers
460s BC births
370s BC deaths
Founders of philosophical traditions
5th-century BC mathematicians
4th-century BC mathematicians