Democritus: A Greek Philosopher
Democritus 1
Democritus
Democritus was a Greek Philosopher born 460 B.C. in the city of Abdera, and died 370 B.C. He was born into a wealthy family and traveled the world extensively. He was known as the “laughing” philosopher, or the “happy” philosopher because he would constantly mock people, and laugh incessantly about his own jibes. Throughout his life he wrote over 70 books, however very few pages have survived the years. Some have said that Democritus blinded himself to better understand his own mind,however, because he had over 70 writings these conceptions of Democritus have been discredited. Democritus studied natural philosophy under his mentor Leucippus, who had a huge affect on Democritus's writings and publications as they were very similar to Leucippus own theories. It is difficult to distinguish whose theories belonged to who because very few documents have survived. However Democritus has been credited with most of them. His major contributions to science is his atomic theory,which was the basis on which modern atomic theory was developed.(http://www.iep.utm.edu/democrit/) Democritus was the first man to suggest the existence of atoms and in suggesting their existence he also defined their possible characteristics. “He reasoned that if the stone were to be continually cut into smaller …show more content…
However Aristotle, who was the most respected philosopher in Greek culture and extremely renowned throughout the known world dispelled Democritus's ideas and discredited most of his work. This set back Democritus's teachings of atomic theory hundreds of years and was not rediscovered until John Dalton's early atomic theory in 1803. Democritus was extremely important to the progression of science, he expanded his mind through travel and education and was constantly in a happy mood. He was a pioneer in science and in life, and should be recognized as
Democritus
Democritus was a Greek Philosopher born 460 B.C. in the city of Abdera, and died 370 B.C. He was born into a wealthy family and traveled the world extensively. He was known as the “laughing” philosopher, or the “happy” philosopher because he would constantly mock people, and laugh incessantly about his own jibes. Throughout his life he wrote over 70 books, however very few pages have survived the years. Some have said that Democritus blinded himself to better understand his own mind,however, because he had over 70 writings these conceptions of Democritus have been discredited. Democritus studied natural philosophy under his mentor Leucippus, who had a huge affect on Democritus's writings and publications as they were very similar to Leucippus own theories. It is difficult to distinguish whose theories belonged to who because very few documents have survived. However Democritus has been credited with most of them. His major contributions to science is his atomic theory,which was the basis on which modern atomic theory was developed.(http://www.iep.utm.edu/democrit/) Democritus was the first man to suggest the existence of atoms and in suggesting their existence he also defined their possible characteristics. “He reasoned that if the stone were to be continually cut into smaller …show more content…
However Aristotle, who was the most respected philosopher in Greek culture and extremely renowned throughout the known world dispelled Democritus's ideas and discredited most of his work. This set back Democritus's teachings of atomic theory hundreds of years and was not rediscovered until John Dalton's early atomic theory in 1803. Democritus was extremely important to the progression of science, he expanded his mind through travel and education and was constantly in a happy mood. He was a pioneer in science and in life, and should be recognized as