Epicurean Philosopher Lucretius: Defending Conceptions Of The Mind

Defending Conceptions of the Mind
What are ideas, and where do they come from? Epicurean philosopher Lucretius explains them as a result of the mind focusing on simulacra, thin films of atoms released from everything. From a logical standpoint, even without taking modern technology into consideration, Lucretius’ theory of Simulacra does not hold up well against scrutiny due to the weak foundational assumptions and contradictive information.
Lucretius theory of simulacra is that simulacra is made of physical atoms that are given off everything in existence. This poses the question of why can we not see simulacra? If simulacra is made of atoms, then we should be able to see it as a haze or fog in the distance. One might be able to say that there
Even if they were too small, a congregation of infinite atoms would still produce an image. For example, we cannot see water as it evaporates from a cup but when more densely packed, we can see water as fog or mist. And where does simulacra atoms even come from then? They must be different than the atoms that make up our bodies if they have such special properties. If this is the case, then how are we replenishing the simulacra atoms in our bodies if Lucretius agrees that, “nothing ever by divine power comes from nothing” (Book 1, 149)? And don’t forget that we release infinite amounts of these simulacra in order to supply a flip-book style of images for others to use as memories. One could argue that we gain simulacra from the things we eat but this only further complicates things. How can inanimate objects such as rocks replenish their simulacra atoms if they cannot eat? They should not be able to unless under some convoluted explanation that they receive it through the air itself. But if we get simulacra from the things we eat, or from the air itself, then that means that the simulacra atoms of the things we eat are the same as the simulacra atoms of humans because again, nothing comes from nothing. Since
But if simulacra is the basis of ideas, then that would insinuate that technology would have to already exist in order to be conceived since nothing new can be thought of. One could argue just as Lucretius that images of new ideas like Centaurs are made of a combination of simulacra, “Others combine together from these shapes. For sure no image of a Centaur came from life since no animal did ever exist”(Book 4, 738) however, that would mean that new innovative ideas should come up every day as simulacra of different things combine since it doesn’t require actual thought. Don’t forget that there’s an infinite amount of simulacra in the air and would probably collide often so there’s no excuse that there would be a lack of new combinations. Even if there were some explanation on how there’s a limit of combinations to create new ideas, how does man come up with conceptual ideas such as math, morals, virtue, language, or simulacra itself? These things are not something that is rooted in physical form and especially not before they were thought up of. Math is really just how we explain physical phenomena and as such cannot give off simulacra because it is not physical. Where in nature would give off the right simulacra that could combine in such a way to give the Pythagorean Theorem? Nature cannot produce conceptual ideas such as math which requires human