The Philosophy Of Democritus And The Atomists

The Presocratic philosopher Democritus couldn't help but laugh at the follies of mankind, this propensity would gain him the moniker "the laughing philosopher." Join me in discovering perhaps the most profound philosopher prior to Pericelan Greece. The Atomic theory of matter that was propounded by the Atomists still, to this day, remains the greatest feat of reason of that era.

References:
The History of Western Philosophy - Bertrand Russell
101 Great Philosophers - Madsen Pirie
Philosophy 101 - Paul Kleinman
Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy (Third Edition) - Cohen, Curd, Reeve, EDS.

CC Attributions:

#Democritus #Presocratics #Philosophy #Atomists

[DarthInsomnis]

I always saw Demo as my favorite philosopher of the Ancient Greek times. Valued friendship, enjoyed having parties, and embraced scientific thought; in short, a great man and mind.

[michaelhoward]

Democritus simply used deductive logic to conclude that the atoms existed. He proposed that if you cut a thing in half, and then continue cutting the halves in half, eventually you will arrive at a particle that, if cut, would no longer be the original thing you began with. So he called this particle an "atomos", which means "uncuttable" in the Greek language. Democritus was also a determinist who believed that these atoms moved through a void directed by the laws of physics predetermined by previous causes. That included human thought and actions directed by the motion of atoms in the brain. So he believed that humans had no freewill.

Epicurus was a follower of Democritus but disagreed with several of his beliefs regarding the properties of atoms and their behavior as they pass through a void. Primarily he disagreed with the determinism of Democritus and instead proposed that man does have freewill as a result of a "swerve" or random, indeterminate movement by the atoms resulting from their own causes. This indeterminacy overcame the rigid determinism of Democritus by presenting a means in which the atoms movement could avoid being dependent on a previous cause, giving humans a capacity to make independent decisions through some freewill, but that there were certain behaviors that were indeed driven by a predetermined movement of the atoms, like hunger or the desire for sex compelled by hormonal conditions.

But what really blows my mind about both these ancient philosophers is the level of discourse they were having regarding the nature of our reality and it's fundamental guiding principles that are not only still debated today, like freewill vs determinism, but how they were arguing the details about something only proven through deductive reasoning and no more! It can even be said that the "swerve" proposed by Epicurus, the random, indeterminate movement of an atom by it's own causes, is a precursor to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in Quantum Mechanics describing our inability to have knowledge of both the position and trajectory of the electron orbiting the nucleus of an atom simultaneously because of how observation effects quantum states. In fact, much of Quantum Mechanics defies classical Newtonian Physics and indeed has a bit of a "swerve" to it as was the direction Epicurus seemed to be going in his quest for a natural explanation of freewill.

[Greg]

In his great Epicurean poem "The Nature of Things, " Lucretius cited compelling empirical evidence in support of atomism. For example, the way an odor can permeate a closed room from outside can only be explained by the penetration of tiny invisible particles.

[maggiemagkron]

"But around 420-"
*two philosophers looking absurdly stoned*

[synthesisdesigncentred]

My first view of your Atomist and Thales video was great fun and liked your creative background use of cut-and-paste collages. not sure but if you like do a video about the philosophers of the Greeks is similar. It's great to find your sight, are you skilled in Greek and Hellenistic history also? Do you have any videos on the philosophy of Hinduism, or Amide Buddha on YouTube also?

[oldman_eleven]

I still can't believe how good this theory was for the time. Amazing

[RLekhy]

You forgot to mention that he travelled to India. In India there was already Atomic concept. Hindus claim it was Kanād who postulated the Atomism and some others claim it was Jain. However, my own literature review says it was Buddha. I put the age of Buddha before Cyrus ll and Thales. Buddha used the term Anu for atom but his immediate desiples used parmanu. According to Buddhism, in one finger tip or in one cubic inch there might be 576, 108, 288 atoms.

[ryanfisher]

We give early scientists and philosophers a lot of gruff for being completely and totally wrong about things, but this guy actually just found out about atoms by THINKING. Wicked cool

[russellbudlong]

I always learn a new perspective on history as well

[techteampxla]

How in the world did this man figure this out over 2000 years ago ?

[think_michael]

You are really really good at editing! I wish I was as good at it as you. How are you doing it? I wish I could use is editing to tell philosophicals histories as well.

[derekpoulin]

Gravity. And time, our star, our mass building the void.

[HansDunkelberg]

The speaker pronounces many words quite little distinctively.

[gtdforum]

I don't believe atomists or atoms are the exact words used in the original Greek text.

[Trizzer]

Bruh, how did he deduce atoms? He also basically called relativity by claiming there is no direction in the void. Amazing