Nature and The Human Person - Empedocles

Who was Empedocles?

A Presocratic philosopher and poet from Acragas in Sicily who lived around 492-432 B.C.E.

What are Empedocles' two major works?

On Nature and Purifications.

What four elements did Empedocles believe make up matter?

Earth, air, fire, and water.

What did Empedocles call the four elements?

The four "roots" of matter.

Are Empedocles' four elements created or destroyed?

No. They are eternal and unchanging.

If the elements don't change, how does change happen in the world?

The elements mix and separate in different combinations and proportions.

Why did Empedocles develop his theory of four elements?

Partly as a response to Parmenides' claim that reality is one and unchanging.

What is the main difference between Parmenides and Empedocles?

Parmenides emphasized a single, unchanging reality, while Empedocles proposed four eternal elements that combine and separate, allowing change to occur.

What are Love and Strife?

Two cosmic forces that control how the four elements combine and separate.

What does Love do?

Combines and attracts the elements.

What does Strife do?

Separates and repels the elements.

What is the relationship between Love and Strife?

They are in an eternal battle for control of the cosmos.

What happens when Love completely dominates?

The elements are brought together into a Sphere, an a-cosmic state where matter and life cannot exist.

What happens when Strife gains power?

The elements separate, allowing the world and life to come into existence.

What happens when Strife completely dominates?

The elements are completely separated, producing a Whirl in which the world and life are destroyed.

What is the cosmic cycle?

The universe repeatedly moves between combination under Love and separation under Strife.

What did Empedocles believe about the soul?

He believed in the transmigration/reincarnation of souls.

What is a daimôn in Empedocles' philosophy?

A divine or potentially divine being that can undergo reincarnation and eventually return to immortality.

Why was Empedocles' daimôn banished from the gods?

Because of the sin of meat-eating and bloodshed.

How long does the daimôn's punishment last?

"Three-times countless years," described as either an extremely long period or 30,000 years.

What happens to the soul during this punishment?

It is repeatedly reincarnated into different forms of life.

What forms does Empedocles say he has been?

A boy, girl, bush, bird, and fish.

What is the ultimate goal of the soul?

Purification and eventual return to divine/immortal status.

Why does Empedocles oppose eating meat?

He considers animal slaughter to be murder and meat-eating to be cannibalism because souls can be reincarnated into animals.

How does reincarnation connect to vegetarianism?

If a human soul can be reincarnated into an animal, killing an animal could mean killing a being that contains a soul.

What does Empedocles think about warfare?

He considers warfare one of the worst evils.

What ethical principles does Empedocles share with Pythagoras?

Vegetarianism, pacifism, and transmigration of souls.

What did Empedocles think about the origin of species?

He developed an early rational explanation for how different species came to exist.

How did organisms originally form according to Empedocles?

Individual limbs and organs came together in different combinations.

What happened to organisms that were assembled incorrectly?

They died out or could not reproduce, while organisms assembled successfully survived.

Why is Empedocles sometimes considered a precursor to Darwin?

His explanation involves a form of natural selection, where unsuccessful combinations die out and successful ones survive.

How is Empedocles different from Darwin?

Empedocles did not describe gradual evolution from one species into another. He believed much of life's variety appeared in a great burst and was later reduced by extinction.

How does Empedocles explain perception?

Things give off effluences that enter pores in our sense organs.

What principle explains perception?

Like perceives like — similar things are attracted to one another.

What is the relationship between perception and thought?

Empedocles connects them closely; the same physical elements involved in perception are also involved in thought.