Topic > Ancient Philosophies - 1267

Despite Zeno's paradoxes and other pre-Socratic arguments, I maintain a pluralistic point of view. Atomists believe that everything is composed of several minute, invisible particles. Leucippus and Democritus argue that these "atoms" are the building blocks of the universe. I will explain the theory of atomism of Leucippus and Democritus and its relation to common sense. Pre-Socratic philosophers before Leucippus had introduced the idea that "what is" must remain stationary for reason because there is no void. They argued that "what is" must also be singular. Initially the contrary opinion was obtained through sensory tests. His predecessors claimed stillness, but yet he could clearly see movement. Since the evidence of the senses contradicted the laws of his predecessors, Leucippus brought forward his explanation which challenged previous thinkers, subsequently triggering modernized thinking. Leucippus was a pluralist who argued that there was more than just one being. Another pre-Socratic philosopher, Zeno, posed various paradoxes. These paradoxes, if analyzed from a pluralistic point of view, would show the absurdity of plurality. Zeno was simply trying to defend Parmenides' doctrine that everything is one, while the atomist argued that there was only one kind of thing (atoms). Both Zeno and the Atomist opposed infinite divisibility. Zeno reaches two different conclusions. His first conclusion; after dividing infinitely there would be nothing left, it is impossible because something cannot be created from nothing. Its other purpose is that, after the division, there would be infinitely small particles that would form infinitely large objects. Both of his conclusions about infinite divisibility fall into error. Infinite... half of the paper... their overall prospect seems quite appealing after considering them, but in relation to common sense, it can be difficult to imagine. Although thanks to advances in science we now know that those atoms are not fundamental; the claim that everything was made up of tiny particles too small to be seen by human eyes is still genius. Although Democritus based his principles about atoms on Empedocles' theory of basic elements, we don't know why the philosopher decided that tiny particles were the answer. The philosophical and mathematical reasoning behind his answer is unclear. It seems that Zeno's struggle against plurality may have helped lead the atomists towards the conclusion of plurality. Works Cited (T1 DK 29A12; KRS 314, 327), (Aristotle, On Generation and Destruction 324-325), (T4 DK 29A24; L 14), (F1 DK 29BI; KRS 315, 316; L pages 9-12) , (Empedocle water field pag. 135 ¶ 2)