Philosophy Stack Exchange
Philosophy Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [atomism]

32 questions
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Is physicalism ultimately essentialist?

Classical Greek atomism arose basically as a response to the Eleatic criticism of the concept of change. The Eleatic argument was basically that if X=Y, then all properties of X must also be properties of Y, but if X is a thing at one time and Y is…
David Gudeman
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Why did Nietzsche believe that atomism was well-refuted?

Here are a couple of quotes from Beyond Good and Evil: As far as materialistic atomism goes: this is one of the most well-refuted things in existence. In Europe these days, nobody in the scholarly community is likely to be so unscholarly as to…
ztforster
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What did Democritus talk about when he talked about "atoms"?

What did the ancient atomists, e.g. Democritus, say about the number of different sorts of atoms? Did they assume four sorts, corresponding to the four elements (earth, water, air, fire, water)? Any reference would be welcome! If they assumed an…
Hans-Peter Stricker
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The use of propositions and propositional functions by Russell in Logical Atomism

I recently had a chance to go through a book by Bertrand Russell : - "The philosophy of logical atomism" . I guess Russell abandoned some of this philosophy later on his life but nevertheless I had trouble understanding some things he is saying in…
ameyask
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Is this a limit of naive atomism?

If I define every thing as a whole made of its parts, these parts should be things as well – but made of what? If every part is composed by smaller ones, we fall in a regress that leads to infinitesimal elements. If we stop at an indivisible unit,…
Francesco D'Isa
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How does Democritus account for eidola in terms of his atomic theory, if in fact he does?

'Eidola' is the peeling away of images from an object that then enters the eye, in Democritus' theory of optics. However, given his atomic theory, it seems puzzling that he doesn't attempt to explain sight in those terms. Does he in fact do so, or…
Mozibur Ullah
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The nature of elementary propositions in the Tractatus

So all complex objects in the world are, at the most fundamental level, made up of simple un-analysable objects which are denoted by 'names'. Combinations of simple objects constitute 'states of affairs'. States of affairs are denoted by 'elementary…
M. Guillaume
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How did Democritus come to atomic conclusion?

Democritus's model stated that matter consists of invisible particles called atoms and a void (empty space). He stated that atoms are indestructible and unchangeable. Also that they are homogenous, meaning they have no internal structure. How did he…
The Last Jedi
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Logical Atomism and the divisibility of ideas?

Crucial to DesCartes' argument for dualism, is that matter and mind are different because matter has extension and thoughts don't. Matter can be divided (infinitely?) into smaller parts, which will still be themselves matter, while thoughts aren't…
Alexander S King
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Was the conservation of matter law proposed in antiquity?

Lucretius in his description of the atomic theory is not generally held to demonstrate a conservation law of matter - the first and most basic conservation law of physics because it relies on the preservation of number; if you have ten stones, then…
Mozibur Ullah
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What did Marx say about Epicurus' free will?

I recently read on Wikipedia how Epicurus came up with the idea of clinamen (swerve motion) of atoms to explain why Democritus atomism produced a dynamical world (collision between atoms) instead of a boring still world (or forever falling world in…
A lost physicist
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How can quantum field theory contribute to clarifying the ontological nature of objects, mereologically?

How can physics, particularly Quantum Field Theory (QFT), contribute to clarifying the ontological nature of objects, in light of different mereological positions such as mereological nihilism, mereological universalism, deflationism, and ordinary…
Marco Fabbri
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Logical Atomism and Simple Particulars

I read a bit of logical atomism by Russell, but would appreciate if someone explains with examples of what is meant by it. For example, it says that "[a]ccording to logical atomism, all truths are ultimately dependent upon a layer of atomic facts,…
george
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Mereological nihilism without simples?

Is it possible to maintain mereological nihilism without simples? It seems to me that, despite the parsimony and elegance of this mereology, in the end one is forced to assume something like ultimate elements without irreducible parts. That sounds a…
Ian
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How could we have defined time, had matter in our universe not been atomic?

A thought occurred reflecting upon SI and its system of units. The definition of the unit meter (the distance a light beam in a vacuum travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second) is a perfect definition of length, because the speed of light is invariant…
ArtIntoNihonjin.
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