more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
Zeno and his followers say that there is no void within the cosmos but an indefinite void outside it.
Gist of Idea
There is no void in the cosmos, but indefinite void outside it
Source
report of Zeno (Citium) (fragments/reports [c.294 BCE]) by Pseudo-Plutarch - On the Doctrine of the Philosophers 884a
Book Ref
'The Stoics Reader', ed/tr. Inwood,B/Gerson,L.P. [Hackett 2008], p.88
A Reaction
Only atomists (such as Epicureans) need void within the cosmos, as space within which atoms can move. What would they make of modern 'fields'? Posidonius later said there was sufficient, but not infinite, void.
| 13217 | The void can't exist, and without the void there can't be movement or separation [Parmenides, by Aristotle] |
| 5100 | The void is not required for change, because a plenum can alter in quality [Aristotle on Melissus] |
| 24059 | Democritus is wrong: in a void we wouldn't see a distant ant in exact detail [Aristotle on Democritus] |
| 5101 | Movement is impossible in a void, because nothing can decide the direction of movement [Aristotle on Democritus] |
| 20905 | Growth and movement would not exist if there were no void to receive them [Democritus] |
| 20918 | Void is a kind of place, so it can't explain place [Aristotle] |
| 14043 | The void cannot interact, but just gives the possibility of motion [Epicurus] |
| 20822 | There is no void in the cosmos, but indefinite void outside it [Zeno of Citium, by Ps-Plutarch] |