Search Results: Democritus

Democritus (l. c. 460 - c. 370 BCE) was a Greek philosopher and younger contemporary of Socrates, born in Abdera (though other sources cite Miletus) who, with his teacher Leucippus (l. 5th century BCE), was the first to propose an atomic...

Bust of the Greek philosopher Democritus (ca. 460 - ca. 370 BCE).

Pyrrho of Elis (l. c. 360 to c. 270 BCE) was a Greek skeptic philosopher credited with founding the school of Pyrrhonism which taught that one must resist making judgments or stating conclusions because sense perception did not correlate...

A painting by Salvator Rosa (c. 1663 CE) depicting the two Greek philosophers Protagoras (right) and Democritus (centre). (Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg)

Democritus, painting by Dosso and Battista Dossi, 1540. Pinacoteca Civica Domenico Inzaghi, Budrio.

Heraclitus and Democritus, Fresco transferred to canvas, by Donato Bramante, c. 1486. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

In this lecture we look at Democritus, the father of the philosophical doctrine known as atomism. Along with investigating his proposal that the universe is composed of atoms and void, we discuss the influence which atomism had on subsequent...

Alchemy is an ancient practice aimed at recreating precious substances using recipes and transformative materials such as the philosopher's stone. Alchemists believed that materials like gold, silver, gems, and purple dye could be recreated...

The Pre-Socratic Philosophers are defined as the Greek thinkers who developed independent and original schools of thought from the time of Thales of Miletus (l. c. 585 BCE) to that of Socrates of Athens (470/469-399 BCE). They are known as...

Melissus of Samos (l. c. 5th century BCE) was a Greek philosopher of the Eleatic School, considered the third great proponent of that philosophy's claim that reality is One, after Parmenides (l. c. 485 BCE) and Zeno of Elea (l. c. 465 BCE...