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Democritus

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Hendrick ter Brugghen, "Democritus Laughing" (1629)
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Hendrick ter Brugghen, "Democritus Laughing" (1629)

Democritus (Greek: Δημόκριτος) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher (born at Abdera in Thrace around 450 BC; died in about 370 BC). Democritus was a student of Leucippus and co-originator of the belief that all matter is made up of various imperishable indivisible (or perhaps undivided) elements which he called "atoma", from which we get the English word atom. It is virtually impossible to tell which of these ideas were unique to Democritus and which are attributable to Leucippus.

According to legend, Democritus was supposed to be mad because he laughed at everything, and so he was sent to Hippocrates to be cured. Hippocrates pointed out that he was not mad, but, instead, had a happy disposition. That is why Democritus is sometimes called the laughing philosopher.

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Democritus' life

Democritus was born at Abdera, about 450 BCE. His father was from a rich noble family and contributed largely towards the entertainment of the army of Xerxes. Democritus was instructed by Magi in astronomy and theology, especially Ostanes (serving Xerxes in his campaign against Greece, 480 BC). After the death of his father, he traveled in search of wisdom, and devoted his inheritance, amounting to one hundred talents, to this. He supposedly visited Egypt, Ethiopia, Persia, and India. During some part of his life, he was instructed in Pythagoreanism and was a disciple of Leucippus. After several years of traveling, Democritus returned to Abdera with no money left. His brother Damosis took him in. According to the law of Abdera, whoever wasted his riches would be deprived of the rites of burial. Democritus, hoping to avoid this disgrace, gave public lectures. He acquired fame with his knowledge of natural phenomena and predicted changes in the weather. He used this ability to make people believe that he could predict the future. They not only viewed him as something more than mortal but even proposed to put him in control of their public affairs. He preferred a quiet life and therefore declined and passed the remainder of his days in solitude. He was said to have lived to a great age and his works numbered seventy-three.

Democritus' teaching

The world

What was real to Democritus consists of the atoms and the "nothing". According to Democritus's beliefs, atoms are indestructible, eternal, and in constant motion. They are not all the same as they differ in shape and position. When the atoms move they come into contact with other atoms and form bodies. A thing comes into being when the atoms that make it up are appropriately associated, and it passes away when these parts disperse. The idea of atoms at the time was controversal to others at the time, more agreeable to the studies of Aristotle and the basic five elements.

This leaves no room for the intelligent direction of things, either by human or divine intelligence, as all that exists are atoms and the void. Democritus stated, "Nothing occurs at random, but everything occurs for a reason and by necessity."

The soul

Although intelligence is not allowed to explain the organization of the world, according to Democritus, he does give place for the existence of a soul, which he contends is composed of exceedingly fine and spherical atoms. He holds that, "spherical atoms move because it is their nature never to be still, and that as they move they draw the whole body along with them, and set it in motion." In this way, he viewed soul-atoms as being similar to fire-atoms: small, spherical, capable of penetrating solid bodies and good examples of spontaneous motion.

Democritus explained senses along these lines, as well. He hypothesized that different tastes were a result of differently shaped atoms in contact with the tongue. Smells and sounds could be explained similarly. Vision works by the eye receiving "images" or "effluences" of bodies that are emanated. He stated that, "Sweet exists by convention, bitter by convention, color by convention; but in reality atoms and the void alone exist." This means that senses could not provide a direct or certain knowledge of the world. In his words, "It is necessary to realize that by this principle man is cut off from the real." Later philosophers use this to assert that any reliable knowledge can be obtained, but Democritus felt differently:
There are two forms of knowledge: one legitimate, one bastard. To the bastard sort belong all the following: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch. The legitimate is quite distinct from this. When the bastard form cannot see more minutely, nor hear nor smell nor taste nor perceive through the touch, then another finer form must be employed.
—Democritus, Fragment 11, The Symmetry of Life

This finer form is reasoning, although Democritus does not explain reason in the atomistic view.

Scientific interest

Mathematics

He was also a pioneer of mathematics and geometry in particular. We only know this through citations of his works (titled On Numbers, On Geometrics, On Tangencies, On Mapping, and On Irrationals) in other writings, since most of Democritus' body of work did not survive the Middle Ages. Democritus was among the first to observe that a cone or pyramid has one-third the volume of a cylinder or prism respectively with the same base.

Astronomy

Democritus was also the first philosopher we know who realized that the celestial body we perceive as the Milky Way is formed from the light of distant stars. Other philosophers, including later Aristotle, argued against this. Democritus was among the first to propose that the universe contains many worlds, some of them inhabited:

"In some worlds there is no Sun and Moon, in others they are larger than in our world, and in others more numerous. In some parts there are more worlds, in others fewer (...); in some parts they are arising, in others failing. There are some worlds devoid of living creatures or plants or any moisture."

Atoms and the void

Democritus agreed that everything which is must be eternal, but denied that "the void" can be equated with nothing. This makes him the first thinker on record to argue for the existence of an entirely empty "void". In order to explain the change around us from basic, unchangeable substance he argued that there are various basic elements which always existed but can be rearranged into many different forms. He argued that atoms only had several properties, particularly size, shape, and (perhaps) weight; all other properties that we attribute to matter, such as color and taste, are but the result of complex interactions between the atoms in our bodies and the atoms of the matter that we are examining. Furthermore, he believed that the real properties of atoms determine the perceived properties of matter--for example, something that tastes sharp is made of small, pointy atoms, while something sweet is made of large, round atoms; the interactions of those atoms with the atoms of the tongue give the impression of taste. Some types of matter are particularly solid because their atoms have hooks to attach to each other; some are oily because they are made of very fine, small atoms which can easily slip past each other. In Democritus' own words, "By convention sweet, by convention bitter, by convention hot, by convention cold, by convention colour: but in reality atoms and void."

Aristotle tells us that this theory of matter, commonly called atomism, was a reaction to Parmenides, who denied the existence of motion, change, or the void. Parmenides argued that the existence of a thing implied that it could not have "come into being", because "nothing comes from nothing". Moreover, he argued, movement was impossible, because one must move into "the void" and (as he identified "the void" with "nothing") the void does not exist and cannot be "moved into".

How to live

The following excerpts are from Democritus' extensive writings on ethics, of which little remain:

References

External links

 

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