德谟克里特和留基波哲学残篇

原子论者：留基波和德谟克利特

1.留基波和德谟克利特持有的观点：事物的基本元素有充满的和真空的两种。他们称其为

存在和否定存在。存在是充满的和实心的，否定存在是真空的和稀薄的。因为真空并不比物体少，所以否定存在并不比存在少。这两者混合在一起，组成了事物。他们说，事物之变更在于某一事物产生其他事物，他们假设，稀薄和聚合是变更的起源。他们说，原子的不同是有其他事物的原因。他们声称这些不同在于：三维外形，排列，位置。不同在于：节奏，接触，旋转。即节奏是外形，接触是排列，旋转是位置。即A和N的外形不同，AN和NA的排列不同，I和H的位置不同。

2.德谟克利特将空间说成是真空，什么都没有和无限的。他认为原子太小了，以至于混淆

了我们的感官，但是这些原子是各种各样的，有不同的外形和尺寸。

3.他们说，第一基本原则在数量上是无限的，他们认为那些所谓的第一基本原则是，不可

分割的原子，他们的内部没有真空。

4.留基波认为，世界的整体是无限的，他的一部分是充满的，一部分是真空的。世界的形

成如下：许多物体由无限中分割出来，进入真空中；他们一起出来，并旋转着，其内部互相碰撞着，形成了各种各样的形态，然后开始分离。但是当他们大量形成后，因要保持平衡而不再旋转，他们中好的就进入了真空中，而余下的互相忍受在一起，互相缠绕在一起，将运动合成在一起而形成一个球形结构。这一结构就像薄膜包围着其内部的实体，当他们旋转时，因为中心的抵抗，外围的薄膜变得更薄了，而临近的原子因要协调于旋转，而不断地流动到一起。所以大地由此形成，在中心产生的原子缠绕在一起。附着在结构上的实体，最先是潮湿的，而随着其不断地旋转，其变得干燥，然后点燃了天空中的物体。

5.德谟克利特持有和留基波相同观点关于：元素，充满和真空的。他说道，事物在真空中

持续地运动着，有数量不可数的世界，在尺寸上是彼此不同的。

6.每件事根据需要而发生，因为所有事物在旋转中生成的原因。

7.没有什么事物是随机发生的，每件事都因为发生的需要而有其原因。

8.当德谟克利特说，旋转由世界整体分离开来，形成各个形态，他没有说其是怎样和通过

什么原因而造成的，他看上去认为其产生是偶然的。

9.德谟克利特由尺寸来区分，重的和轻的。他说好的东西是轻的。

10.德和留说，他们的身体在真空中不停地运动着。他们应该区分这是什么种类的运动。

The atomists: Leucippus and Democritus

1.Leucippus and his associate Democritus hold that the elements are the full and the void; they

call them being and not-being respectively. Being is full and solid, not-being is void and rare.

Since the void exists no less than body, it follows that not-being exists no less than being. The tow together are the material causes of existing things. And just as those who make the underlying substance one generate other things by its modifications, and postulate rarefaction and condensation as the origin of such modifications, in the same way these men too say the differences in atoms are the causes of other things. They hold that these differences are three-shape, arrangement, and position; being, they say, differs only in “rhythm, touching, and turning”, of which rhythm is shape, touching is arrangement and turning is position: for A differs from N in shape, AN from NA in arrangement, and I from H in position.(Aristotle, Metaphysics 985b 4)

2.Democritus calls space by these names-the void, nothing and the infinite, while each

individual atom he calls…. The compact, and being. He thinks they are so small as to elude our senses, but they have all sorts of forms and shapes and differences in size. So he is already enabled from them, as from elements , to create by aggregation bulks that are perceptible to sight and the other senses.(Aristotle, On Democritus apud simplicius, de caelo 295, 1)

3.They said that the first principle were infinite in number, and thought they were indivisible

atoms and impassible owing to their compactness, and without any void in and in them;

divisibility comes about because of the void in compound bodies. (Simplicius, de caelo 242 ,18)

4.Liucippus holds that the whole is infinite…part of it is full and part void…hence arise

innumerable worlds, and are resolved again into these elements. The worlds come into being as follows: many bodies of all sorts move by abscission from the infinite into a great void;

they come together there and produce a single whirl, in which, colliding with one another