The Atomists

Question 1

Whist Parmenides was a monist, what were the Atomists?

Answer 1

Pluralists, maintaining that the universe is fundamentally many. (although they did believe that there is only one kind of thing in this world, atoms)

Question 2

Name 5 major Atomists.

Answer 2

Empedocles (450?), Anaxagoras (500-428), Leucippus (500?), Democritus (460 - 360), Epicurus (341-270)

Question 3

What were Empedocles and Anaxagoras?

Answer 3

Qualitive atomists. They believed that the world was composed up of elements, with different properties.

Question 4

For the qualitative atomists, were the elements themselves changing? And is reality as a whole changing?

Answer 4

The elements do not change, but reality does change by the varying combinations of all the different elements.

Question 5

What were Leucippus, Democritus, and Epicurus?

Answer 5

They were quantitative atomists.

Question 6

For the quantitative atomists, what were the differences between elements or atoms?

Answer 6

All had the same qualities, except for shape (Democritus) or weight (Epicurus).