Atomism
Atomism is a philosophical theory that appeared in Ancient Greece during the 5th century BC. C. and in India around the year 600 B.C. C. —although perhaps it arose much earlier (Mosco de Sidon)—, according to which the universe is made up of combinations of small indivisible particles called atoms (from the Greek ἄτομον, "that cannot be cut", "indivisible").
History
Development in ancient India
In Indian philosophy there are examples of atomic ideas in the works of the Vedic sage Aruni, who lived in the 8th century BCE. C.. This author even mentioned that "particles too small to be seen are grouped together in the form of substances and objects of experience", these particles were called kaṇa Although the The term kaṇa alludes to "particles" and not atoms (paramanu), some scholars such as Hermann Jacobi or Randall Collins have compared Aruni's ideas with those of Thales of Miletus, pointing out similarities in their scientific methodology, and considering that both are early examples of & #34;primitive physicists" or "proto-materialist thinkers". C.. Bhattacharya positions the Charvaka school as one of several materialistic and atheistic schools that existed in ancient India.
Among the first Indian philosophers to consider matter to be made up of atoms or very small indivisible particles is Pakudha Kaccāyana (c. 6th century BCE), according to the Samannaphala Sutta there would be seven types of atoms associated with seven entities that were: earth, water, fire, air, joy, sorrow and life. Pakudha claimed that these primitive and indestructible, unceasing and stable realities did not interact with each other but simply combined. More details of Pakudha's theories are given in the Brahmajala Sutta where they are classified as "atomists" (Pali/Skt.: anu vaada) and "eternalists" (sassatavādā). Pakudha also considered himself a materialist, so he did not seem to consider gods, souls or other types of non-material entities. Later, the philosopher Kaṇāda founded the Vaisheshika school, which was also the first Indian school of natural philosophy. The Nyaya and Vaisheshika schools developed their own iedas about how kaṇa were combined into more complex objects. These atomistic doctrines, in some respects, are remarkably similar to that of Democritus. McEvilley (2002) assumes that such similarities are due to cultural contact and the diffusion of ideas, possibly in both directions.
Development in ancient Greece
In ancient beliefs, the atom was defined as the smallest element, both extensive and indivisible, from which all things are made. Leucippus is considered by Aristotle and Diogenes Laertius as the founder of atomism, although according to Sextus Empiricus he lends the invention of the atom to Moscus of Sidon, a Phoenician physiologist or natural philosopher.
According to the mechanistic atomism of Leucippus and Democritus (centuries V and IV B.C.), atoms are indestructible material particles, devoid of qualities, which are distinguished from each other only by shape and dimension, and which by their various combinations in a vacuum constitute different bodies. This conception of nature is absolutely materialistic, and explains all natural phenomena in terms of the number, shape, and size of atoms. He even reduces the sensory properties of things to the quantitative differences of atoms.
"All that exists in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity."Diogenes Laercio, IX
Diels-Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, 67 B2
Atomism appears in Greek philosophy as an attempt to overcome logical difficulties to explain the change of things considered in the Eleatic school.
The atomistic conception removes so many obstacles to the mechanical and mathematical understanding of the universe that it became a model for any rational investigation of nature. It is also presented as akin to the pluralism of Anaxagoras or Empedocles (V century BC). Anaxagoras considered everything to be made of elementary particles called homeomers, conceptually different (although very similar) to the atoms of Leucippus and Democritus, while Empedocles claimed that almost all things (not eyes, for example) are made up of all four. elements, namely: air, water, earth and fire.
The essence of the atomistic argument is as follows. Let us take as valid the hypothesis, "material things are divisible to infinity." Since such a division is possible, let us imagine that we carry it out with a body; What is left of this then? Either the product of the division is a number of bodies with physical magnitude, or it consists of a number of elements that have no magnitude. In the first case, the residual bodies with magnitude must still be able to divide, since the division would not have been carried out completely, which contradicts the starting point. In the second case, the original body, which has magnitude, would be composed of elements that do not have magnitude, which is impossible. The sum of infinitely many elements that do not have magnitude gives rise to an element without magnitude. So both possible results lead to an absurdity and therefore the hypothesis that material bodies are divisible to infinity must be false, and therefore there must be a limit to this division, a basic unit of indivisible matter that has magnitude., called an atom and from which it can no longer be divided.
In India, on the other hand, the Ajivika and Chárvaka Jains and the Nyaya and Vaiśeṣika schools of orthodox Hinduism reached similar conclusions.
Aristotelian criticism and further development
Aristotle accepts the atomistic idea and reconciles it with Plato's philosophy of forms, arguing that both are right. He explained it through the first substance and the categories or secondary substances that depend on it. The first substance would be the matter of the atomists and the categories dependent on it would be the properties that define that matter that makes it what it is. All this explained in his doctrine of the four causes.
To avoid mechanistic determinism, criticized by Aristotle, Lucretius takes Epicurus' thought and introduces the thesis that atoms fall into a vacuum and experience a decline by themselves that allows them to find themselves (clinamen theory). In this way he tries to impose a certain order on the original idea that supposed that things were formed with a chaotic movement of atoms.
In the Middle and Modern Ages
In the Middle Ages, despite the general opposition to atomism based on theological considerations, and above all due to the strong influence of Aristotle, this doctrine was maintained by William of Conches and Nicholas of Autrecourt. The theory gained new height in the 15th and XVI, coinciding with the criticism of Aristotelianism, with the ideas of Nicholas of Cusa and Giordano Bruno, reaching a climax with the renewal of Gassendi, who considers atomism as the most reasonable hypothesis for the explanation of the phenomena of nature. At this time the problems inherent to the atomistic doctrine were debated: logical difficulty of admitting that there is a portion of matter that cannot be divided and the difficulties of explaining the diversity of the physical and chemical properties of the bodies. Likewise, the influence that it acquired later on the origins of scientific atomic theory is undeniable, beginning with the Serbian scientist Ruđer Bošković (1711-1787), the first to outline a modern atomic theory with a Newtonian foundation that establishes forces of cohesion and repulsion.
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