Tuesday, July 6, 2010

DEMOCRITUS & ARISTOTLE

DEMOCRITUS
History





An Ancient Greek philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece. He was an influential pre-socratic philosopher and pupil of Leucippus, who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos.
His speculation on atoms, taken from Leucippus, bears a passing and partial resemblance to the nineteenth-century understanding of atomic structure that has led some to regard Democritus as more of a scientist than other Greek philosophers.

Many consider Democritus to be the "father of modern science".








ATOMIC HYPOTHESIS


The theory of Democritus and Leucippus held that everything is composed of "atoms", which are physically, but not geometrically, indivisible; that between atoms lies empty space; that atoms are indestructible; have always been, and always will be, in motion; that there are an infinite number of atoms, and kinds of atoms, which differ in shape, and size. Of the mass of atoms, Democritus said "The more any indivisible exceeds, the heavier it is." But their exact position on weight of atoms is disputed. Democritus, along with Leucippus and Epicurus, proposed the earliest views on the shapes and connectivity of atoms. They reasoned that the solidness of the material corresponded to the shape of the atoms involved. Thus, iron atoms are solid and strong with hooks that lock them into a solid; water atoms are smooth and slippery; salt atoms, because of their taste, are sharp and pointed; and air atoms are light and whirling, pervading all other materials.


ARISTOTLE
HISTORY

A Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.



          

ATOMIC THEORY

He claimed that there was no smallest part of matter and that different substances were made up of proportions of fire, air, earth, and water. As there were of course no experimental means available to test either view, Aristotle's prevailed mainly because people liked his philosophy better.




By: Ysa Macapagal and May Santos

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