TY - JOUR
T1 - Atomic independence and indivisibility
AU - Bodnár, M. István
N1 - Újranyomva in: Anthony Preus (szerk.), Before Plato (Studies in Ancient Greek Philosophy, 6) Binghamton, N.Y.: SUNY Press 2001, 123–146
PY - 1998
Y1 - 1998
N2 - Aristotle on several occasions voices a two-pronged principle of the atomists, that no plurality may emerge from real unity and no unity from what is real plurality. Understandably, the first injunction has been studied far more extensively than the second. The impossibility of the emergence of a plurality from what is really a unit is a constitutive feature of those indivisible bits of being which, precisely on this account, can be called atomic. In what follows I shall explore the two bans in conjunction. In order to do so, I shall first need some technical vocabulary. Alongside atomic indivisibility-the postulation that atoms cannot be fractured-I shall need to speak about atomic independence. This is the feature of the atoms whereby they do not get absorbed into larger chunks of matter, do not coalesce with one another.
AB - Aristotle on several occasions voices a two-pronged principle of the atomists, that no plurality may emerge from real unity and no unity from what is real plurality. Understandably, the first injunction has been studied far more extensively than the second. The impossibility of the emergence of a plurality from what is really a unit is a constitutive feature of those indivisible bits of being which, precisely on this account, can be called atomic. In what follows I shall explore the two bans in conjunction. In order to do so, I shall first need some technical vocabulary. Alongside atomic indivisibility-the postulation that atoms cannot be fractured-I shall need to speak about atomic independence. This is the feature of the atoms whereby they do not get absorbed into larger chunks of matter, do not coalesce with one another.
U2 - 10.1093/oso/9780198238157.003.0002
DO - 10.1093/oso/9780198238157.003.0002
M3 - Article
SN - 0265-7651
VL - 16
SP - 35
EP - 61
JO - Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy
JF - Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy
ER -