Ancient philosophy a new history of western philosophy volume 1 (new history of western philosophy) ( PDFDrive ) 45

PYTHAGORAS TO PLATO states of the same substance, H2O It was not unreasonable to think of Wre, and especially the Wre of the sun, as a fourth element of equal importance One might say that the twentieth-century emergence of the science of plasma physics, which studies the properties of matter at the sun’s temperature, has restored Empedocles’ fourth element to parity with the other three Aristotle praised Empedocles for having realized that a cosmological theory must not just identify the elements of the universe, but must assign causes for the development and intermingling of the elements to make the living and inanimate compounds of the actual world Empedocles assigns this role to Love and Strife: Love combines the elements, and Strife forces them apart At one time the roots grow to be one out of many, at another time they split to be many out of one These things, he said, never cease their continual interchange, now through love coming together into one, now carried apart from each other by Strife’s hatred (KRS 348) Love and Strife are the picturesque ancestors of the forces of attraction and repulsion which have Wgured in physical theory throughout the ages For Empedocles, history is a cycle in which sometimes Love is dominant, and sometimes Strife Under the inXuence of Love the elements combine into a homogeneous, harmonious, and resplendent sphere, reminiscent of Parmenides’ universe Under the inXuence of Strife the elements separate out, but when Love begins to regain the ground it had lost, all the diVerent species of living beings appear (KRS 360) All compound beings, such as animals and birds and Wsh, are temporary creatures that come and go; only the elements are everlasting, and only the cosmic cycle goes on for ever To explain the origin of living species, Empedocles put forward a remarkable theory of evolution by survival of the Wttest First Xesh and bone emerged as chemical mixtures of the elements, Xesh being constituted by Wre, air, and water in equal parts, and bone being two parts water to two parts earth and four parts Wre From these constituents unattached limbs and organs were formed: unsocketed eyes, arms without shoulders, and faces without necks (KRS 375–6) These roamed around until they chanced to Wnd partners; they formed unions, which were often, at this preliminary stage, quite unsuitable Thus there arose various monstrosities: human-headed oxen, ox-headed humans, androgynous creatures with 22