Re: Democritus' sources for his atomist theory


"Matt Giwer" <jull43@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:47278100$0$32535$4c368faf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
prr wrote:
OK I know some smarties might say "Leucippus." Then give me his
source, ok? :) I'm wondering if this was simply a good guess by folks
who were grasping for straws, or if they got these theories from
Persia or India (it is true that reincarnation was en vogue among some
of the presocratics), or was it something else? How did Democritus
come to believe in this theory?
Let me clarify my question-I'm not asking for someone to recount
Democritus' own teachings. What I'm asking is, where did he get it
from? Was this just typical of the guesswork that was done by most of
the presocratics of his age-with him being the lucky correct guesser?
Or was he reflecting ideas that had been carried into Ionia from
farther east? Or south, from Egypt?

While it is usually a good bet that ideas are not original they have to start with someone.

http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/webdocs/AtomicStructure/Greeks.html

It comes from a line of argumentation but as you notice it does not go much further than that. Unlike a scientific theory it did not explain observation nor was it testable.

2) ...their shapes. According to Aristotle: "Democritus and Leucippus say that there are indivisible bodies, infinite both in number and in the varieties of their shapes...." (p. 110)

Democritus says of atoms: "They have all sorts of shapes and appearences and different sizes.... Some are rough, some hook-shaped, some concave, some convex and some have other innumerable variations." (p. 110-111)

Sounds like he's describing the way the shape of atomic orbitals determine chemical behaviour.


3) ...their weight. Again from Aristotle: "Democritus recognized only two basic properties of the atom: size and shape. But Epicurus added weight as a third. For, according to him, the bodies move by necessity through the force of weight." (p. 111)

As you can see it is not what we think of as atoms. And it contrary to the

Actually yes it is what we think of as atoms. Democritus may have come up with the idea of chemical valency as determined by the arrangement of electrons in atomic shells and there is not reason why he could not have derived with the equations used in basic O and A-Level chemistry to describe them.

value of the theory; that there are a limited number of different types and the way they combine are what makes different types of material objects. So it is not a useful theoretical structure upon which to build.

No it isn't.

.

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