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Early Greek Philosophy, Volume VII: Later Ionian and Athenian Thinkers, Part 2
The fragments and testimonia of the early Greek philosophers (often labeled the Presocratics) have always been not only a fundamental source for understanding archaic Greek culture and ancient philosophy but also a perennially fresh resource that has stimulated Western thought until the present day. This new systematic conception and presentation of the evidence differs in three ways from Hermann Diels’s groundbreaking work, as well as from later it renders explicit the material’s thematic organization; it includes a selection from such related bodies of evidence as archaic poetry, classical drama, and the Hippocratic corpus; and it presents an overview of the reception of these thinkers until the end of antiquity.
Volume I contains introductory and reference materials essential for using all other parts of the edition. Volumes II–III include chapters on ancient doxography, background, and the Ionians from Pherecydes to Heraclitus. Volumes IV–V present western Greek thinkers from the Pythagoreans to Hippo. Volumes VI–VII comprise later philosophical systems and their aftermath in the fifth and early fourth centuries. Volumes VIII–IX present fifth-century reflections on language, rhetoric, ethics, and politics (the so-called sophists and Socrates) and conclude with an appendix on philosophy and philosophers in Greek drama.
Volume I contains introductory and reference materials essential for using all other parts of the edition. Volumes II–III include chapters on ancient doxography, background, and the Ionians from Pherecydes to Heraclitus. Volumes IV–V present western Greek thinkers from the Pythagoreans to Hippo. Volumes VI–VII comprise later philosophical systems and their aftermath in the fifth and early fourth centuries. Volumes VIII–IX present fifth-century reflections on language, rhetoric, ethics, and politics (the so-called sophists and Socrates) and conclude with an appendix on philosophy and philosophers in Greek drama.
- GenresPhilosophyClassics
512 pages, Hardcover
Published October 31, 2016
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October 31, 2023دموکریت را از علوم راهنمایی و با نسبت دادن طعم ترش و شیرین به شکل اتمها به یاد داریم. از نظر او جوهر دنیا دو چیز بود، پر و خالی؛ که نماد اولی اتم بود — ذرات توپُر و شکافتناپذیری که در شکل و تعداد بینهایت بودند — و نماد دومی عدم. (به اعتقاد ارسطو، دموکریت «فضا» را به اشتباه به جای عدم معرفی میکرد.)
اما احتمالن بحثبرانگیزترین نظر او، نسبت دادن حرکت اتمها و آفرینش به شانس/تقدیر بود و نه طراحی هوشمند و منظم و غایتگرا. چیزی که نقد تند ارسطو و بدنامی شدید دموکریت را میان فلاسفهی مسیحی مثل آگوستین را به همراه داشت («ای کاش هیچ وقت اسم دموکریت را نشنیده بودم تا این که مجبور باشم درد این را تحمل کنم که زمانی کسی چون او [...] مردی بزرگ به حساب میآمد»).
اما دموکریت تنها یک فیلسوف طبیعتگرا نبود. با این که اغلب رسالههای او از بین رفته، اما میدانیم در اخلاق و سیاست و پزشکی هم دستی بر آتش داشت. گلچین قابل توجهی از توصیههای اخلاقی او بهجا مانده که در سادگی و بدیهی بودن بسیار به جملات کتابهای روانشناسی زرد امروزی شبیه اند. سوال این است: چرا اقبال نسبت به این دست بدیهیات قدیمی بعد از ۲۵۰۰ سال هم تا این اندازه زیاد است؟ چون بلاخره اصول زندگی همان است که بود و هنوز هم چنین پندهایی کارگشا هستند؟ یا این که این کلمات قصار، بازنمایندهی میل افراطی انسان به سادهسازی همهی پیچیدگیهای مدرن، حتا به قیمت درک سطحی از وقایع اند؟
اما احتمالن بحثبرانگیزترین نظر او، نسبت دادن حرکت اتمها و آفرینش به شانس/تقدیر بود و نه طراحی هوشمند و منظم و غایتگرا. چیزی که نقد تند ارسطو و بدنامی شدید دموکریت را میان فلاسفهی مسیحی مثل آگوستین را به همراه داشت («ای کاش هیچ وقت اسم دموکریت را نشنیده بودم تا این که مجبور باشم درد این را تحمل کنم که زمانی کسی چون او [...] مردی بزرگ به حساب میآمد»).
اما دموکریت تنها یک فیلسوف طبیعتگرا نبود. با این که اغلب رسالههای او از بین رفته، اما میدانیم در اخلاق و سیاست و پزشکی هم دستی بر آتش داشت. گلچین قابل توجهی از توصیههای اخلاقی او بهجا مانده که در سادگی و بدیهی بودن بسیار به جملات کتابهای روانشناسی زرد امروزی شبیه اند. سوال این است: چرا اقبال نسبت به این دست بدیهیات قدیمی بعد از ۲۵۰۰ سال هم تا این اندازه زیاد است؟ چون بلاخره اصول زندگی همان است که بود و هنوز هم چنین پندهایی کارگشا هستند؟ یا این که این کلمات قصار، بازنمایندهی میل افراطی انسان به سادهسازی همهی پیچیدگیهای مدرن، حتا به قیمت درک سطحی از وقایع اند؟
June 28, 2021
This seventh volume of the Loeb Classical Library's collection of Presocratic Greek philosophy is entirely dedicated to the original Atomists, Leucippus and Democritus. Practically, this means it's all Democritus, given that even among the ancients there was doubt whether or not Leucippus even existed; scholars today still debate this.
Regardless, Democritus's theory of Atomism is the closest the ancients got to our contemporary Western cosmology. His great innovation was to accept the Parmenidean challenge to the reliability of our senses by theorizing reality as a vast void filled with eternally moving particles, alternately bouncing off each other or catching hold of each other to generate gigantic aggregates that we sense (incorrectly) as the real world.
Democritus had no conception of atomic forces of attraction and repulsion, which gave the Aristotelians ground to bury his innovations beneath incisive criticisms of his inability to explain why anything happens. However, it's fascinating that despite the significant differences between ancient Atomism and modern physics, much of what Democritus wrote on the basis of sheer reason still resonates with our current conception of physical reality. His thought spawned the Epicureanism of the Hellenistic and Roman periods, as well as a vast pseudepigraphical literature; and his moral and political aphorisms still entertain 2,400 years after his death. There's ample reason to given over an entire volume solely to the remains of his writing.
Regardless, Democritus's theory of Atomism is the closest the ancients got to our contemporary Western cosmology. His great innovation was to accept the Parmenidean challenge to the reliability of our senses by theorizing reality as a vast void filled with eternally moving particles, alternately bouncing off each other or catching hold of each other to generate gigantic aggregates that we sense (incorrectly) as the real world.
Democritus had no conception of atomic forces of attraction and repulsion, which gave the Aristotelians ground to bury his innovations beneath incisive criticisms of his inability to explain why anything happens. However, it's fascinating that despite the significant differences between ancient Atomism and modern physics, much of what Democritus wrote on the basis of sheer reason still resonates with our current conception of physical reality. His thought spawned the Epicureanism of the Hellenistic and Roman periods, as well as a vast pseudepigraphical literature; and his moral and political aphorisms still entertain 2,400 years after his death. There's ample reason to given over an entire volume solely to the remains of his writing.
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