Leucippus or Leukippos (Greek: Λεύκιππος, first half of 5th century BC) was the first Greek to develop the theory of atomism — the idea that everything is composed entirely of various imperishable, indivisible elements called atoms — which was elaborated in far greater detail by his pupil and successor, Democritus. He was born in Miletus or Abdera.[1]
imaginary portrait of Leucippus
Overview
Leucippus was a shadowy figure, as his dates are not recorded and he is often mentioned in conjunction with his more well-known pupil Democritus. It is therefore difficult to determine which contributions come from Democritus or from those of Leucippus.[2]
Leucippus was a contemporary of Zeno, Empedocles and Anaxagoras of the Ionian school of philosophy. Leucippus was most influenced by Zeno, who possessed a great interest in the problems and paradoxes of space. He studied at the school in Elea, but it is not certain whether this was before or after the death of Parmenides. Around 440 B.C. or 430 B.C. Leucippus founded a school at Abdera, which his pupil, Democritus, was closely associated with.[3] His fame was so completely overshadowed by that of Democritus, who systematized his views on atoms, that Epicurus doubted his very existence, according to Diogenes Laertius x. 7.
However, Aristotle and Theophrastus explicitly credit Leucippus with the invention of Atomism. Leucippus agreed with the Eleatic argument that true being does not admit of vacuum, and there can be no movement in the absence of vacuum. Leucippus contended that since movement exists, there has to be vacuum. However, he concludes that vacuum is identified with non-being, since it cannot really be. Leucippus differed from the Eleatics in not being encumbered by the conceptual intermingling of being and non-being. Plato made the necessary distinction between grades of being and types of negation.[3]
The most famous among Leucippus' lost works were titled Megas Diakosmos (The Great Order of the Universe or The great world-system[4]) and Peri Nou (On mind).
Quotes
A single fragment of Leucippus survives[5]:
Nothing happens at random (maten), but everything from reason (ek logou) and by necessity.
– Leucippus, Diels-Kranz 67 B1
Notes and references
- ^ The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy, pg. xxiii. Note that Democritus was a resident of Abdera. Some said Leucippus was from Elea, for his philosophy is associated with the Eleatic philosophers.
- ^ Jonathan Barnes, Early Greek Philosophy, 1987
- ^ a b Leucippus in The Presocratics, Philip Wheelwright ed., The Odyssey Press, 1966, pg. 177.
- ^ Ibid., pg. xxiii.
- ^ Diels/Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker [I]
A.A. Long (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy (pgs. xxiii, 185)
Diels-Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker [I] 67A
Diogenes Laertius, Diogenes Lartius: Lives of Eminent Philosophers, IX.30-33
External links
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