Empedokles (* between 494 v. Chr. and 482 v. Chr. in distal extremity gas on Sicilies (today: Agrigent), "† between 434 v. Chr. and 420 v. Chr. on the Peloponnes) were a philosopher, a physician, a politician, a and a poet in the antique Greece.

Life

Empedokles originated from an aristocracy sex and enjoyed as physician, politician, and poets high reputation and highest admiration, which accelerated still its future generations. Thus Friedrich dedicated the tragedy "“the death of the Empedokles"” to him. After the death of the Tyrannen Theron Empedokles in the breaking out fights of the leaders of the democrats became. It dissolved the supposed oligarchische political combination "“meeting of the council of the thousands"” and gave to its birth city (today Agrigent on Sicilies) a new condition. The people is to have offered to it the it rejected however, "“as freer and each rule averse man"”, as Aristoteles wrote.

As banishing bewanderte it late Italy and established itself in Thurioi. After one in several variants receive remained legend set it for its life an end, by falling itself in the The total extent of its two works written in hexadecimal meters ("“over nature"” and amounted to after Diogenes Laertios 6000 lines. From these are delivered to today 450 lines in fragments.

Achievements

He was a representative of the four-element teachings, and saw love (Philotes) and hate (Neikos) as which bring together and separate the four elements. Thus organisms would develop again and again again and things in the world (Sphairos).

Its large achievement was it to connect the contradictory theories of becoming Heraklit and the Seiens of Parmenides from Elea to by attributing its and Kraft to the material.

Empedokles gave with its evolution theory an impact for development to biology.

Philosophy with Empedokles

Philosophy with Empedokles designates its nature-philosophical teachings, as far as they are received in fragments and other excessive quantities.

Empedokles attaches to milesische nature philosophy

Empedokles follows with its philosophical teachings milesische nature philosophy, as she remained in the excessive quantities from Thales and Anaximander. He takes over however from Parmenides the view that the being end must be thought as constant and imperishably. In order to have not like those therefore the reality of movement and change denial, it - differently than the Demokrit struggling with the same problem - subordinates, to movement presupposes not empty area, but is as local change in the full one to be thought, similar as with the fish in the water.

The problem of the Zugleichheit of its and diversity dissolves he

By presupposing four qualitatively differentiated components (earth, water, air and fire), he solves the problem of the Zugleichs in his way from its and diversity. While with Heraklit the four elements are into one another ignoring forms of the fire, Empedokles regards them as remaining alike bases detachable into smallest parts. It brought the thoughts of the structure of the physical world from a limited number of elements thereby as the first into the prehistory of the science. After its cosmological teachings the spherical universe consisting of four elements changes by in it the working of both forces love and controversy in cyclic kind.

To the conception of the cosmos with Empedokles

Aristoteles attributes two different each other replacing conditions to the cosmos of the Empedokles:

As Empedokles says, the things are shifted alternating in motion and again in peace; they are moved, if the love makes the unit or the controversy of the Vielheit from the unit the Vielheit; on the other hand they rest in the meantime. (in: Aristoteles, physics VIII 1)

For this reason most modern attempts of the reconstruction of the theory of the Empedokles of four conditions speak:

To the four conditions of the love and the controversy (hate) as a moment of the development of the universe

1. In the time of the rule of the love, if the elements are completely mixed with one another
2. In the time of the hate (the controversy), if the elements is completely from each other divorced, is the universe in peace
3. In the time, if the love arranges the seperate elements to the mixture and/or.
4. In the time, if the hate dissolves the mixture, the cosmos comes in motion

Due to another report of the Aristoteles however the cosmos is with Empedokles in eternal motion (in: Over the sky I 10 279b).

To the construction of the sky, the sun and the moon light

From the homogeneous mixture of the elements first air, then the fire, separated itself which - by manufacturing the two hemispheres of the daily and the night - surround which earth. The sky consists of by fire effect of ice-like confirmed air. The fixed stars and planet determined in the sky are also fiery bodies. The sun is indeed identical to the fiery hemisphere. That sun, which humans in the sky see, is the light of the real sun back-thrown by the earth. The moon receives its light from the sun. The present kinds of the organisms developed in the fourth stage of a phylogenetischen process.

To the phylogenetischen theory of the Empedokles

The phylogenetische theory of the Empedokles was already regarded in the antiquity as a forerunner of the late medicine justified of Hippokrates. The body of the organisms is a mixture consisting of the four elements. Empedokles explains the difference of the kinds and that of our bodies constituting subjects (meat, bone, blood among other things) by the different proportions of the elementary mixture. Most important moment of the nutrition is digesting, while that divides itself the food into its elements and lets into the body build in such a way.

The respiration illustrates the example of the Wasseruhr. In the way, as in its the removing water level gives the place to air freely, the blood withdrawing from the tubes causes the inhalation and the again forward-pushing bloodstream breathing out in our body. Those our sensory organs of constituent elements notice them used elements of the external world.

To the conception of the with heavy debt of humans

In its Empedokles announces the orphisch pythagoreische theory of the soul migration:

If one stained own members in debt involving with murder blood its, who swore furthermore as a result of the controversy a perjury from the number of the which erlost a very long life, which must around-curve three times ten thousand Horen faraway from the blessed ones, whereby they develop in the course of the time as all possible shapes of mortal creatures, those of the life toilsome paths change (1, 31 B 115)

The migration is not only the punishment, but at the same time also the purification process of the souls. As ever more perfectly becoming organisms they receive again terrestrial shape, "“last however become it to Seher and singers and physicians and prince iridischen humans, from which they up-grow than Gods, at honours richest"” (ebenda 1, 31 B 146).

The process of the means the adherence to the rules of a certain mystisch asketischen life order, whose basic principle consists of slaughtering no animals and eating no meat. Empedokles white itself as an involved one of this process:

To these belong now also I, from God a Gebannter and erring, since I trusted racing controversies (in: ebenda 1, 31 B 115).

The authenticity both its cosmological kosmogonischen as well as its mystischen theory been based however on it that the philosopher finally arrived itself for one at the terminator point of this process, pure soul become holds:

I however wandle you therefore as a unsterblicher God, no more than mortal ones"… (in: ebenda 1, 31 B 112)

Effect

Friedrich wrote a drama "“the death of the Empedokles"”. Therein it connects elements from its philosophy on the basis of the historical figure with own considerations from the spirit of the idealism.

To the history of the Empedoklesbildes in 17. and 18. Century in Germany see Theresia Birkenhauer: Putting one and seal. Berlin 1996.

Works

• Nature -- Training poems
• Cleaning teachings -- mythische revealing
• H. Diels (Hrsg.): The fragments of the Vorsokratiker. Berlin 1956
• W. Capelle: The Vorsokratiker. The fragments and source reports. Berlin 1958

A completely new beginning with Kingsley!

• Peter Kingsley: Ancient Philosophy Mystery, and Magic. Empedocles and Pythagorean tradition; Oxford 1995
• Peter Kingsley: Into the dark places OF wisdom; Inverness (California) 1999 (appeared in Europe with Duckworth)

• G.S. Kirk; J.E. Raven; M. Schofield: The Vorsokrati philosophers. Introduction, texts and comments;

Stuttgart/Weimar 1994; 1-7 (source question); 8-81 (forerunners); 263-289 (Parmenides); 309-353 (Empedokles)

Articles in category "Empedokles"

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