Democritus Continued

I.                     One of the main problems facing the act of studying ancient philosophers today is the lack of accuracy of the philosopher’s original texts.

a.       Natural cause such as erosion surely have a hand in this.

b.       Destruction of texts by people of higher authority.

II.                   When forced to resort to secondary/third sources, it may be hard to determine what ideas being published belong to the ancient philosopher from those of the transcriber.

a.       Socrates and Plato

b.       Leucippus and Democritus

1.       The Nature of Living Things

a.       In common with other early ancient theories of living things, Democritus seems to have used the term psychê to refer to that distinctive feature of living things that accounts for their ability to perform their life-functions

b.       Atoms in motion

c.       Democritus seems to have developed a view of reproduction according to which all parts of the body contribute to the seed from which the new animal grows, and that both parents contribute seed

d.       Democritus held that human beings arose from the earth

2.       Theory of Knowledge

a.       thought as well as sensation are caused by images impinging on the body from outside, and that thought as much as perception depends on images

b.       it takes our knowledge of the world to be derived from our sense experience, but the senses themselves not to be in direct contact with the nature of things, thus leaving room for omission or error

3.       Ethics

a.       despite the large number of ethical sayings, it is difficult to construct a coherent account of his ethical views

b.       Democritus was committed to a kind of enlightened hedonism, in which the good was held to be an internal state of mind rather than something external to it.

4.       Anthropology

a.       Democritus may be the originator of an ancient theory about the historical development of human communities

b.       Democritus suggests that human life was originally like that of animals; it describes the gradual development of human communities for purposes of mutual aid, the origin of language, crafts and agriculture

Quiz

1.       What’s one of the main problems facing the act of studying ancient philosophers today?

2.       Who was Democritus’s teacher?

3. What term did Democritus use to refer to that distinctive feature of living things that accounts for their ability to perform their life-functions?

4. Democritus suggest that what kind of life was originally like that of animals?

DQ’s

1.       How does the age of a certain philosopher affect his credibility?

2.       Do you agree with Democritus’s idea on the nature of living things?

3.       If ethics was purely based on the composition of one’s mind, how would that make you feel about your own moral code?