DEMOCRITUS
Democritus was born in the city of Abdera in Thrace, an Ionian country of Teos during the year 460 BC, according to Apollodorus. He is popularly known as the Laughing Philosopher (for laughing at human folies) & also as “The Mocker”. It was said that he came from a rich family. This gave him the opportunity to travel the world & satisfy his thirst for knowledge.
Using his inheritance from his father, he travelled to Asia & was rumoured to have even reached the countries of India & Ethiopia. Through some of his writings, we know that he had been to Babylon & Meroe. According to Diodorus Siculus, he said that Democritus visited Egypt & resided there for 5 years. Democritus himself said that among his contemporaries, no one had journeyed, seen, or met more important scholars than he. During his travels, it was said that he became acquainted with the Chaldean Magi. One of the magi, whose name was “Ostanes” was said to have taught him.
After returning home to Abdera, he busied himself with the study of Natural Philosophy. He travelled around Greece to gain knowledge about the culture there. In his writings, many Greek philosophers are mentioned & by using his wealth, he was able to purchase their writings. The philosopher with the greatest influence on him was Leucippus, the founder of Atomism.
There are many anecdotes about Democritus, especially by Diogenes Laërtius. Diogenes Laërtius wrote that Democritus was modest, simple & that he lived exclusively for his studies. It was said that Democritus lost his eyesight in his old age. Despite that, he was cheerful & he was always ready to see the comical side of life.
According to Diodorus Siculus, Democritus died at the age of 90 in the year 370 BC. Although other writers have said that he lived to the age of either 104 or 109.
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DEMOCRITUS
ISSUES/CONTRIBUTIONS/ACHIEVEMENTS:
Democritus’ exact contributions are difficult to disentangle from his mentor Leucippus, since they are often mentioned together in texts. Their speculation on atoms (which came from Leucippus) has a passing & partial resemblance to the 19th century understanding of atomic structure that has led some to think of him as more of a scientist. Many consider Democritus to be the “Father of Modern Science” yet he was nevertheless well-known to his fellow Northern-born philosopher, Aristotle. It was said that he was dislike so much by Plato & it came to a point that Plato wished all of his works were burnt.
WORKS:
Ethics
§ Pythagoras
§ On the Disposition of the Wise Man
§ On the Things in Hades
§ Tritogenia
§ On Manliness or On Virtue
§ The Horn of Amaltheia
§ On Contentment
§ Ethical Commentaries
Natural science
§ The Great World-ordering (may have been written by Leucippus)
§ Cosmography
§ On the Planets
§ On Nature
§ On the Nature of Man or On Flesh (two books)
§ On the Mind
§ On the Senses
§ On Flavours
§ On Colours
§ On Different Shapes
§ On Changing Shape
§ Buttresses
§ On Images
§ On Logic (three books)
Nature
§ Heavenly Causes
§ Atmospheric Causes
§ Terrestrial Causes
§ Causes Concerned with Fire and Things in Fire
§ Causes Concerned with Sounds
§ Caused Concerned with Seeds and Plants and Fruits
§ Causes Concerned with Animals (three books)
§ Miscellaneous Causes
§ On Magnets
Mathematics
§ On Different Angles or O contact of Circles and Spheres
§ On Geometry
§ Geometry
§ Numbers
§ On Irrational Lines and Solids (two books)
§ Planispheres
§ On the Great Year or Astronomy (a calendar)
§ Contest of the Waterclock
§ Description of the Heavens
§ Geography
§ Description of the Poles
§ Description of Rays of Light
Literature
§ On the Rhythms and Harmony
§ On Poetry
§ On the Beauty of Verses
§ On Euphonious and Harsh-sounding Letters
§ On Homer
§ On Song
§ On Verbs
§ Names
Technical works
§ Prognosis
§ On Diet
§ Medical Judgment
§ Causes Concerning Appropriate and Inappropriate Occasions
§ On Farming
§ On Painting
§ Tactics
§ Fighting in Armor
Commentaries
§ On the Sacred Writings of Babylon
§ On Those in Meroe
§ Circumnavigation of the Ocean
§ On History
§ Chaldaean Account
§ Phrygian Account
§ On Fever and Coughing Sicknesses
§ Legal Causes
§ Problems
Aristotle
ARISTOTLE
Aristotle was born in Stageira, Chalcidice (a place 55km away from Modern-Day Thessaloniki) in the year 384 BC. His father was Nicomachus, the personal physician to King Amyntas of Macedon. Aristotle trained & studied as a member of the aristocracy which is a form of government. At 18, he continued his education at Plato’s Academy in Athens. He stayed there for nearly 20 years & only left after Plato’s death in 347 BC.
After leaving the Academy, he went to the court of his friend, Hermias of Atarneus, in Asia Minor. While in Asia, he travelled to the various islands & studied their botany & zoology. Later on, Aristotle married Hermias’s adoptive daughter, Pythias & they had a daughter together. After Hermias’s death, he was invited by Philip II of Macedon to tutor his son Alexander the Great in 343 BC.
In Macedon, he was appointed as the head of the Royal Academy. At that time, he taught Alexander along with Ptolemy & Cassander. There he taught Politics & counselled his 3 pupils.
By 335 BC, Aristotle returned to Athens & established his own school there called the Lyceum. He conducted courses at the school for the next 12 years. During that time, his wife Pythias died & Aristotle became involved with Herpyllis of Stageira. They had a son whom he named after his father, Nicomachus.
It is believed that the period 335 to 323 BC was when Aristotle composed many of his works. He wrote many dialogues, of which very few survived. The surviving works are in Treatise form & were not intended to be for widespread publication since they are generally thought to be used as lecture aids for his students. His most important treatises include: Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, Politics, De Anima (On the Soul) & Poetics.
Aristotle had been suspected of playing a role in Alexander the Great’s death but there is very little evidence to that. Upon Alexander’s death, anti-Macedonian sentiment in Athens grew. Eurymedon the Hierophant denounced Aristotle for not holding the gods in honor. Aristotle then fled to his mother’s family’s estate in Chalcis.
In the year 322 BC, Aristotle died in Euboea of natural causes. He named his student Antipater as the new Chief Executor & left a will wherein he requested to be buried next to his wife.
ARISTOTLE
ISSUES/CONTRIBUTIONS/ACHIEVEMENTS:
Aristotle’s views on the physical sciences greatly shaped medieval scholarship & that influence extended well into the Renaissance period before being replaced by Newtonian Physics. Some of his observations concerning the biological sciences were confirmed to be accurate only in the 19th century. His works contained the earliest known formal study of logic which became Modern formal logic in the late 19th century. In Metaphysics, Aristotelianism made a great influence on philosophical & theological thinking in the Islamic & Jewish traditions. It continues to influence Christian theology, especially Eastern Orthodox theology & the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. His ethics, though always influential had gained renewed interest with the modern coming of Virtue Ethics. All aspects of his philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study nowadays. Out of Aristotle’s many elegant treatises & dialogues, only about 1/3 of the original works have survived. Despite the far-reaching appeal that Aristotle’s works have traditionally enjoyed, modern scholarship now questions a substantial portion of the Aristotelian corpus as Aristotle’s own authentically.
WORKS:
Aristotle’s works that have survived through Medieval manuscript transmission are collected in Corpus Aristotelicum. These texts are technical philosophical treatises from within Aristotle’s school.
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References
www.angelfire.com
www.plato.stanford.edu/entries/democritus/
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