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Democritus

Democritus (460 -400 BC ) was a Greek philosopher, considered a great thinker, was born in Abdera, Thrace, of wealthy parents, is best known for his atomic theory though he was also known as a geometre. Very little is known about him. He has been called the Laughing Philosopher, it is said, from his habit of laughing at the follies of mankind. He spent his patrimony in travel, gathered knowledge from far and near, and gave the fruits of it in a series of writings to his contemporary compatriots, only fragments of which remain, though they must have come down comparatively entire to Marcus Tullius Cicero's time (100-43 B.C.), who compares them for splendour and music of eloquence to Plato's.

His philosophy was called the Atomic, as he traced the universe to its ultimate roots in combinations of atoms, in quality the same but in quantity different, and referred all life and sensation to movements in them, while he regarded quiescence as the summum bonum.

Wisdom & Quotes

  • Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is of the opinion.
- Fragment
  • Everything existing in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity.
--Fragments
  • Nature has buried truth at the bottom of the sea.
-Attributed

Aristophanes


Page last modified on Wednesday November 17, 2021 15:11:10 GMT-0000