democritus originally thought atoms and the void comprised all of reality.
democritus originally thought atoms and the void comprised all of reality.
who originally thought atoms and the void comprised all of reality?
democritus
democritus believed that atoms are too small for human senses to detect, they are infinitely many, they come in infinitely many varieties, and that they have always existed. they float in a vacuum, which democritus called the "void", and they vary in form, order, and posture. some atoms, he maintained, are convex, others concave, some shaped like hooks, and others like eyes. they are constantly moving and colliding into each other. democritus wrote that atoms and void are the only things that exist and that all other things are merely said to exist by social convention. the objects humans see in everyday life are composed of many atoms united by random collisions and their forms and materials are determined by what kinds of atom make them up. likewise, human perceptions are caused by atoms as well. bitterness is caused by small, angular, jagged atoms passing across the tongue; whereas sweetness is caused by larger, smoother, more rounded atoms passing across the tongue.
atomism
in indian philosophy, maharishi kanada was the first to systematically develop a theory of atomism around 200 bce though some authors have allotted him an earlier era in the 6th century bce. it was further elaborated by the buddhist atomists dharmakirti and dignāga during the 1st millennium ce. pakudha kaccayana, a 6th-century bce indian philosopher and contemporary of gautama buddha, had also propounded ideas about the atomic constitution of the material world. these philosophers believed that other elements (except ether) were physically palpable and hence comprised minuscule particles of matter. the last minuscule particle of matter that could not be subdivided further was termed parmanu. these philosophers considered the atom to be indestructible and hence eternal. the buddhists thought atoms to be minute objects unable to be seen to the naked eye that come into being and vanish in an instant. the vaisheshika school of philosophers believed that an atom was a mere point in space. it was also first to depict relations between motion and force applied. indian theories about the atom are greatly abstract and enmeshed in philosophy as they were based on logic and not on personal experience or experimentation. in indian astronomy, aryabhata's "aryabhatiya" (499 ce) proposed the earth's rotation, while nilakantha somayaji (1444–1544) of the kerala school of astronomy and mathematics proposed a semi-heliocentric model resembling the tychonic system.
history of physics