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Single Idea 13211

[filed under theme 26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / g. Atomism ]

Full Idea

Dividing a body at all points might actually occur, so the body will be both actually indivisible and potentially divided. Then nothing will remain and the body passes into what is incorporeal. So it might be reassembled out of points, or out of nothing.

Gist of Idea

If a body is endlessly divided, is it reduced to nothing - then reassembled from nothing?

Source

Aristotle (Coming-to-be and Passing-away (Gen/Corr) [c.335 BCE], 316b24)

Book Ref

Aristotle: 'The Basic Works of Aristotle', ed/tr. McKeon,Richard [Modern Library Classics 2001], p.476

A Reaction

[a bit compressed] This sounds like an argument in favour of atomism, but Aristotle was opposed to that view. He is aware of the contradictions that seem to emerge with infinite division. Graham Priest is interesting on the topic.

The 40 ideas with the same theme [lowest level of matter is tiny indivisible parts]:

17542 'Full' and 'Void' secularised Parmenides's Being and Not-being [Democritus, by Heisenberg]
5947 If only atoms are real and the rest is convention, we wouldn't bother to avoid pain [Democritus, by Diogenes of Oen.]
13219 When atoms touch, why don't they coalesce, like water drops? [Aristotle on Democritus]
1525 Atomists say there are only three differences - in shape, arrangement and position [Democritus, by Aristotle]
1533 Because appearance is infinitely varied, atomists assume infinitely many shapes of atom [Democritus, by Aristotle]
20899 Atoms cling together, until a stronger necessity disperses them [Democritus, by Aristotle]
20898 Atoms are irregular, hooked, concave, convex, and many other shapes [Democritus, by Aristotle]
20908 There could be an atom the size of the world [Democritus, by Ps-Plutarch]
1527 There must be atoms, to avoid the absurdity of infinite division down to nothing [Democritus, by Aristotle]
20909 The basic atoms are without qualities - which only arise from encounters between atoms [Democritus, by Galen]
493 Experiences are merely convention; only atoms and the void are real [Democritus]
1536 If a cone is horizontally sliced the surfaces can't be equal, so it goes up in steps [Democritus]
325 We must consider the four basic shapes as too small to see, only becoming visible in large numbers [Plato]
13210 Wood is potentially divided through and through, so what is there in the wood besides the division? [Aristotle]
13211 If a body is endlessly divided, is it reduced to nothing - then reassembled from nothing? [Aristotle]
13220 Bodies are endlessly divisible [Aristotle]
14034 There exists an infinity of each shape of atom, but the number of shapes is beyond our knowledge [Epicurus]
14035 Atoms just have shape, size and weight; colour results from their arrangement [Epicurus]
14038 There cannot be unlimited division, because it would reduce things to non-existence [Epicurus]
20907 Democritus says atoms have size and shape, and Epicurus added weight [Epicurus, by Ps-Plutarch]
21669 Atoms don't swerve by being struck, because they move in parallel, so the swerve is uncaused [Cicero on Epicurus]
21680 What causes atomic swerves? Do they draw lots? What decides the size or number of swerves? [Cicero on Epicurus]
5693 Everything is created and fed by nature from atoms, and they return to atoms in death [Lucretius]
5701 If an object is infinitely subdivisible, it will be the same as the whole universe [Lucretius]
5708 In downward motion, atoms occasionally swerve slightly for no reason [Lucretius]
5950 If only atoms exist, how do qualities arise when the atoms come together? [Plutarch]
20919 How can things without weight compose weight? [Alexander]
16593 Atoms are not points, but hard indivisible things, which no force in nature can divide [Gassendi]
16729 How do mere atoms produce qualities like colour, flavour and odour? [Gassendi]
15952 The corpuscles just have shape, size and motion, which explains things without 'sympathies' or 'forces' [Boyle, by Alexander,P]
12759 There are atoms of substance, but no atoms of bulk or extension [Leibniz]
15955 I think the corpuscular theory, rather than forms or qualities, best explains particular phenomena [Leibniz]
2102 Atomism is irrational because it suggests that two atoms can be indistinguishable [Leibniz]
2105 Things are infinitely subdivisible and contain new worlds, which atoms would make impossible [Leibniz]
2106 The only simple things are monads, with no parts or extension [Leibniz]
12728 Leibniz rejected atoms, because they must be elastic, and hence have parts [Leibniz, by Garber]
19374 Microscopes and the continuum suggest that matter is endlessly divisible [Leibniz]
12705 Epicurean atoms are distinguished by their extreme hardness [Garber]
6156 The 17th century reintroduced atoms as mathematical modes of Euclidean space [Rowlands]
16609 Atomists say causation is mechanical collisions, and all true qualities are microscopic [Pasnau]