Democrito

DEMOCRITUS OF ABIDER
…and his influence to the Greeks.

I. Introduction
A. Who was Democritus.

I. Democritus Atomic theory.

III. Democritus influences.
B. His biggest teachers.
C. His followers.

IV. His published work.
V. Conclusion/ Refection
VI. Bibliography
VII. Bibliographical Notes,

Democritus, or Democritus ofAbider, was born in Abder, in the Northern part of the Egeos sea–hence, his name- ; was a pre-Socratic nature philosopher who lived between the years of 460 and 370 a.c.  And died at the age of 90, but some people state he lived over 100 years. He was recognized by his bubbly personality, for he was always smiling and excogitating. He had an enormous influence over the greeks due to the fact thathis atomic theory was the base of all other theories because, it is obvious everything is made out of atoms. Democritus loved to travel, seeking knowledge and adventure. He traveled all through Persia, Egypt and some people say he even got to India, though it might be just a fancy story. He meditated and had a very spiritual soul, and there are various legends which prove this for example, its saidhe toured his eyes out when he was tying to meditate so that the contemplation of the external world wouldn’t’ t distract him; legend that expresses that Democritus contempt for knowledge was very sensitive.
Most of the stories about Democritus are worthless later inventions. He is reported to have said that he visited Athens, but no one knew him there, and from Cicero and Horace we learn that.His only certainly attested teacher was Leucippus. The titles of more than sixty writings are preserved from a catalog that probably represented the holdings of the library at Alexandria. Of these we have only some 300 alleged quotations, many of which may not be genuine. More valuable for the understanding of Democritus’ theories are the accounts given by Aristotle, Theophrastus, and the laterdoxographic tradition. Democritus left pupils who continued the tradition of his teachings and one of them, Nausiphanes, was the teacher of Epicurus.(6)

¨Man is a universe in little.¨
( from ¨Ancilla to pre-socratic philosophers)

Democritus agreed with his predecessors in that changes in nature weren’t really due to the fact that ¨things just change¨. He supposed therefore, that everythingthat ever existed had to be made up of tinny little pieces; and that these pieces were eternal and unchangeable and he called them Atoms.
The word ¨Atom¨ means <indivisible>, and it was important for Democritus to know that the little pieces which everything is made of, couldn’t get any smaller.
Democritus agreed with Patricides and the Eleatics with the idea that nothing can come outof nowhere. This atoms had to be fixed and solid but not identical, because in this case, there would be no different matters, everything would be made out of the same texture, color, etc; and we wouldn’t difference one thing from another.

¨When a body – or a tree or an animal- dies and decays,
the atoms disperse and can be used in another body.
As the atoms move in space; and can get usedto any other form,
they then create, everything we see in our surrounding¨ (Sophie’s world, 53).

But these connections can be undone in order to let other creations happen.
Now a day, we can confirm that Democritus theory was right; nature is – in fact- made up of millions of atoms of different materials that join and separate to create something new. If we accept that nothing changes,nothing just appears, then nature must necessarily be made of this little particles.
Democritus didn’t believe in a greater power, spirit or deity, he based his believes in facts, nature facts. He even believed that the soul was too, made if atoms, and that animals, humans , plants and everything was made of this very little tinny pieces.

¨There is no determinate motivation behind the atoms,...