Biography
The ancient Greek philosopher EmMedocle left only 2 poems inherited, and they were preserved only in the form of fragments and quotes, but they discovered a lot of bold ideas that anticipate the distant future. In the biography of the thinker it is difficult to separate the facts from legends. Contemporaries believed that he had supernatural forces and was even able to revive the dead, and the thinker himself wouldingly supported the idea of his divine origin. Bertrand Russell in the book "The History of Western Philosophy" called EmPedocla"A mixture of philosopher, a prophet, a man of science and charlatan."Childhood and youth
On the young years of the philosopher is known little, and even about the date of his birth information contradiction. Most historians tend to the fact that it was 490 to our era. The main part of the life of the thinker was held in the city of Akraganta (now - Agrigento) in Sicily, so in the preserved written evidence, it is often referred to as Empedocl from Akragant. Some sources also occur also to clarify the "Son of Exence".
Biographical information about the philosopher is known mainly from the work of Diogen Lanertsky, their own econction and works of other ancient thinkers. He became the founder of the school of oratory, wrote the texts of speeches and was famous for eloquent performances. Aristotle considered it the founder of rhetoric.
Empedocl was a convinced supporter of democracy and advocated the young acrelant to go on this path. His position in society was weighty, and the position is convincing, but he could not save in the city. Supporters of Tirani captured the power and sentenced the philosopher to exile from the city. After the defeat, the EmPedocle moved away from politics, fully immersed in philosophy.
Contemporaries believed that the Empedocle traveled a lot, and it was precisely this source of his deep knowledge - only the priests of Egypt could be taught to the art of progress, and the mysters of witchcraft and medicine - the eastern wise men, but the confirmation of the fact that the antique thinker was really in different countries, no .
In the native lands, the philosopher was considered a wonderworker and a magician. He was attributed to different miracles, right up to the resurrection of the dead - allegedly he was able to revive the woman, 30 days had fallen silent. He was nicknamed by a voyage - according to the legend, when the wind once laid down so much that he damaged the harvest, Empedocle ordered to make bellows from donkey skins and stretch them along the hills and vertices, after which the weather improved.
Also, the philosophers are attributed to Selinunti's salvation from the plague epidemic: he ordered to break through the rock to let the federal air in the dying city, and soon the northern winds reached the atmosphere and took the disease.
Philosophy
His ideas of EmPedocl insulated in poetic form. Discount thinkers retained by fixing in the works, his two poems: "cleansing" and "On Nature". Supposedly, both were 5 thousand lines in them, but only 450 were preserved. Poems included in the poems express his thoughts not only exactly, but also elegant: Empedocle was a master of the syllable and skillfully used metaphors and other techniques of poetic art.
In his youth, Empedocl supported the Pythagorean current, but then he was expelled from the rows of students - whether he betrayed the secret knowledge of himself, or for the fact that he had assigned to himself anyone else's achievements (there is no one-minded opinion). Some ideas of Pythagora, in particular the doctrine of the proportion, then formed the basis of the naturophilosophy of the thinker.
The exercise of EmPedocle is based on the treatment of the Arhem - the primancy underlying 4 elements that correspond to 4 deities - AID, Zeus, Gera and Nestis. The elements, being eternal and unchanged, are constantly moving, fill the space and form all things around, including the human body. For example, blood consists of 4 elements in equal proportions, and the bones of 4 parts of the fire, 2 - Earth and 2 - fire. At the same time, the elements themselves are passive and do not create anything, but move through the collision of the 2 opposite forces - File (love) and neukos (hatred).
The birth and death of Empedocle considered the wrong concepts, behind which there is a simple connection and separation of elements. This dualism underlies the entire existing, forming a cyclic process, during which unity and many are consistently manifested.
In the poetic poems, the philosopher expressed dozens of ingenious thoughts that were ahead of his time. Then, of course, such bold ideas were impossible to confirm empirically, and the contemporaries of the eyes of Empedocle seemed fantastic, but with the development of science, scientists were surprised to have been in ancient science of many important ideas in ancient science.
For example, Empedocl supported the law of preservation (for the first time expressed by Eleats), arguing that nothing arises from the void. In the treatise "On Nature", he wrote that the light spreads at a certain speed, which is large, but the ultimate magnitude. Also in the works of EmMedocle found the foundations of the theory of natural selection, developed by Darwin: the philosopher argued that the types are constantly changing, and they survive only the most adapted of them.
Naturally, his teaching is generally not so much similarity with the ideas of modern biology - for example, the thinker believed that the first animals were mechanical, random joints of individual bodies, including human, but its hypotheses were reflected and developed in the writers of followers and laid Basics of studying organic life.
This is not the only contribution to the science made by the philosopher. Empedocl spoke by the concept of air as a certain substance, recorded the observations of the centrifugal power facts and indicated that the moon shines not his own, but reflected light. He was also interested in childbirth: especially mysterious, he considered the birth of two-choice twin children and tried to explain this phenomenon through the theory of soul resettlement.
The ancient philosopher belongs to ideas and guesses in the field of medicine, especially with regard to physiology and sensory perception. He was one of the first who tried to separate his healing from the sign and blind beliefs. Empedocle insisted that medicine - science, not secret magic knowledge, and the doctor is obliged to study the human body, and not just follow the ancient legends.
From the point of view of gnoseology, Empedocl performed a supporter of sensual knowledge and was an optimist in terms of its borders, arguing that the truth exists and there is no fundamental obstacles to its comprehension. At the same time, the world of man knows sensations: its organs adapt to the object being studied and through special pores perceive information. The wider pores, the more multifaceted and complex information through them you can perceive and know.
Together with Anaksagor, EmPedocle laid the foundations of the development of Greek philosophy, from which the teachings of atomists, the works of Aristotle and Plato rose.
Personal life
Nothing is known about the wife of the great philosopher. The descendants, however, had: Satir in "life tracks" mentions that the son has been born, whom the thinker called himself in honor of his father exacuette. Also in some sources there is a mention of a daughter, which is intentionally, whether he accidentally burned a part of the remaining unfinished manuscripts of the philosopher.
Empedocle was distinguished by an extravagant behavior and loved to emphasize his superiority over others. He wore the clothes of the priest - a purple mantle, a gold belt and a Delphian crown, everywhere appeared surrounded by suits and enthusiastic disciples, and his masterpieces inspired by fellow citizens. He got a decent state from his parents, which he preferred to spend in the original way, issuing a dowry and organizing successful marriages for them.
Death
About how EmPedocl died, there are quite a few versions - from household to fantastic. Diogen Lanertsky leads 2 of them. According to the first, the famous philosopher was brought to heaven alive, and he "should be sacrificed as a god of God." According to the second - Empedocl chose suicide: feeling the approach of death, he rushed to the ethna volcano. Celebrates learned about his death, finding his bronze sandals in the ashes.
However, in some written evidence of that time, simpler versions are found: it is possible that Empedocle fell from a wagon that went to the holiday in Messen, broke the thigh and, sick after that, died. It is also mentioned that in fact he slipped and fell into the sea. Being a weak old man, the philosopher did not cope with the raid wave and drowned.
Which of the interpretations is true and that it was the cause of death, it is not reliably known. Historians disagree even in opinion, how old was the thinker at the time of death: 60, 77 or 109.
The descendants erected an e-sand statue in his hometown. Later, the Romans moved it to the capital and put on the square in front of the Senate Building. The sculptural portraits of the philosopher are also preserved, according to which one can make an approximate view of its appearance.
Quotes
A lot of barrier misfortunes dull to the toastful dooms. There is a vague opinion in the soul about the immortal. Cosmos one, but space does not constitute the universe, but forms only some, a small part of the universe, the rest of it is unrelated matter. It does not occur from Nothing, and nothing can be what is to be destroyed.Proceedings
- "About nature"
- "Cleansing"