He was in a position to be able to distinguish the works of Leucippus from those of Democritus and we shall describe his views on this matter. Theophrastus became head of the Lyceum in Athens after Aristotle in 323 BC. Theophrastus (about 372 BC - 287 BC ) was a pupil of Aristotle who had studied at Athens under Aristotle. The first of these is attributed to Leucippus by Theophrastus. Two works, almost certainly written by Leucippus, are The Great World System and On the Mind. ![]() It seems likely that Democritus as a pupil of Leucippus, developed the ideas of his teacher but it is quite beyond us to disentangle the contributions of each to this important doctrine. Quite soon the whole became attributed to Democritus who was the more famous of the pair. The reason that some early writers did not believe in the existence of Leucippus seems to be because his views and those of Democritus became completely entwined. The mixing of these particles gives rise to the world we experience. imperceptible, individual particles that differ only in shape and position. ![]() Together they are considered as the joint founders of atomic theory. It is thought that Democritus was a pupil of Leucippus, where this time 'pupil' really does have its standard meaning. More likely here is that later writers realised that Leucippus followed Zeno's ideas and 'pupil' was intended in this sense. Some quotes suggest that atomism began with Leucippus, other quotes such as the one above bracket Leucippus and Democritus, while in a few places Aristotle seems to imply that Democritus alone invented atomism.Ĭertainly it seems that Leucippus was much influenced in his thinking by Zeno of Elea and by Parmenides, but it seems relatively unlikely that there is any truth in the later claim that he was a pupil of Zeno of Elea. Unfortunately Aristotle is not entirely consistent in his references to Leucippus. of those who have maintained the existence of indivisibles, some, as for example Leucippus and Democritus, believe in indivisible bodies, others, like Xenocrates, in indivisible lines. For example in De caelo Aristotle writes:. ![]() Aristotle refers to him several times and quotes from his works on a number of occasions. However we now know enough in the way of independent evidence to be sure that Leucippus did exist.Īristotle refers to Leucippus as a philosopher with rather different views to those of Parmenides. ![]() Although now there seems little doubt that Leucippus existed, it is worth remarking that Epicurus, at the end of the fourth century BC, actually believed that Leucippus had never existed since so little was known of him. The philosopher Protagoras was born in Abdera and he was a contemporary of Leucippus but Protagoras, the first of the Sophists, spent most of his life in Athens and may have left Abdera before Leucippus arrived there. At the time that Leucippus would have lived in Abdera it was a prosperous town which politically was a member of the Delian League. Today the town is in Greece and is called Avdhira. We know little of his life but it is thought that he founder the School at Abdera on the coast of Thrace near the mouth of the Nestos River. Biography Leucippus of Miletus carried on the scientific philosophy which had begun to become associated with Miletus.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |