The different possible packings and scatterings within the void make up the shifting outlines and bulk of the objects that we feel, see, eat, hear, smell, and taste. The void is infinite and provides the space in which the atoms can pack or scatter differently. Both atoms and the void were never created, and they will be never ending. Aristotle explicitly credited Leucippus with the invention of Atomism, although no fragments of his writings survive, and we have only a few fragments of the writing of Democritus (and most of that second-hand).ĭemocritus and Leucippus taught that the hidden substance in all physical objects consists of different arrangements of atoms and void. In Western Philosophy, Atomism is usually associated with the Greek Pre-Socratic philosopher Democritus, although in reality Democritus's teacher Leucippus (5th Century B.C.) was certainly co-founder of the doctrine, and quite possibly fully responsible for it. Atoms can combine based on their eternal properties to produce any of six “aggregates” (earth, water, shadow, sense objects, karmic matter and unfit matter), similar to the Greek concept of elements. Each atom, according to Jaina philosophy, has one kind of taste, one smell, one color, and two kinds of touch, and can exist in one of two states, "subtle" (in which case they can fit in infinitesimally small spaces) and "gross" (in which case they have extension and occupy a finite space). The Jains envisioned the world as consisting wholly of atoms, except for souls. Then Jain religion in India had also developed an atomic theory by the 1st Century B.C. The movement had a second phase during the 7th Century A.D., led by Dharmakirti, which considered atoms to be point-sized, durationless and made of energy. Each of these elements has a specific property, such as solidity or motion, and performs a specific function in mixtures, such as providing support or causing growth. There was a doctrine of Buddhist Atomism, which began developing in India before the 4th Century B.C., in which there was also four kinds of atoms, corresponding to the standard elements. ![]() These atoms were considered to have general (intensive and extensive) properties and specific (intensive) properties, and to combine in pairs ( dyads), and then group into trios of pairs ( triads), which are the smallest visible units of matter. and 1st Century B.C., with elaborate theories of how the four elemental atom types (with 24 different possible qualities), combine. ![]() ![]() The Hindu Nyaya- Vaisesika school developed one of the earliest forms of Atomism in India between the 6th century B.C. There is no room in this theory for the concept of a God, and essentially it is a type of Materialism or Physicalism. Traditional Atomism asserts that all physical objects consist of different arrangements of eternal atoms and the infinite void in which they form different combinations and shapes. This leads logically to the position that only atoms exist, and there are no composite objects (objects with parts), which would mean that human bodies, clouds, planets, etc, all do not exist. Introduction | Ancient Indian Atomism | History of Western Atomism | Types of AtomismĪtomism is the theory that all of reality and all the objects in the universe are composed of very small, indivisible and indestructible building blocks known as atoms (from the Greek "atomos", meaning "uncuttable"). By Branch / Doctrine > Metaphysics > Atomism (as a philosophical theory)
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