Atomism

1. Atomism was devised by Leucippus and his student Democritus. Democritus was born about 460 B.C., which makes him about 40 years younger than Anaxagoras, and about 10 years younger than Socrates.
Atomism is the final, and most successful, attempt to rescue the reality of the physical world from the fatal effects of Eleatic logic by means of a pluralistic theory. (Guthrie, vol. 2, p. 389)
2. Overview of atomism:
1. Imagine each atom, taken by itself, as a Parmenidean unit. Each is indivisible. There is no differentiation between one part of an atom and another part. There is no empty…