Another somewhat contradictory figure, Empedocles was a democrat who also claimed to be a god, a scientist as well as a mystic. Like Parmenides, he wrote in verse.
In the area of science, he discovered air as a separate substance by observing that when a bucket is put upside down into water, the water does not enter the bucket and that therefore there must be something keeping the water out, namely air. He also discovered examples of centrifugal force, sex in plants and had a somewhat unusual theory of evolution. He also knew that the moon shone by reflected light, that it took light time to travel and had an understanding of eclipses. He founded a school of medicine. All pretty impressive, and seemingly in contrast to the more metaphysical Parmenides and Zeno.
He had a mystical side too though. He established earth, air, fire and water as the four elements, which he thought were combined by love and divided by strife in cycles, as opposed to Heraclitus' strife alone. He regarded the course of nature as guided by chance and necessity rather than purpose. He inherited many of his religious ideas from Pythagoreanism (according to Russell).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment