atomism summary

Know about the concept of atomism and its relation to realism, mechanism, and holism

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see atomism.

Epicurus
Epicurus, bronze bust from a Greek original, c. 280–270 bce; in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.

atomism, Philosophical doctrine that material objects are aggregates of simpler parts known as atoms. Atomism in the strict sense is characterized by three points: the atoms are absolutely indivisible, qualitatively identical apart from shape, size, and motion, and combinable with each other only by juxtaposition. Atomism is usually associated with realism and mechanism; it is mechanistic because it maintains that all observable changes can be reduced to changes in the configuration of the atoms that constitute matter. It is opposed to holism because it holds that the properties of any whole can be explained in terms of those of its parts.

Robert Nanteuil: portrait of Pierre Gassendi

Pierre Gassendi Summary

Pierre Gassendi was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, who revived Epicureanism as a substitute for Aristotelianism, attempting in the process to reconcile mechanistic atomism with the Christian belief in an infinite God. Born into a family of commoners, Gassendi received his early

Epicurus Summary

Epicurus was a Greek philosopher, author of an ethical philosophy of simple pleasure, friendship, and retirement. He founded schools of philosophy that survived directly from the 4th century bc until the 4th century ad. Epicurus was born on the island of Samos of Athenian parents who had gone there

Democritus Summary

Democritus was an ancient Greek philosopher, a central figure in the development of philosophical atomism and of the atomic theory of the universe. Knowledge of Democritus’s life is largely limited to untrustworthy tradition. It seems that he was a wealthy citizen of Abdera, in Thrace; that he