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Single Idea 5950

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

Full Idea

If you accept atomism, you must show how bodies without quality have given rise to qualities of every kind by the mere fact of coming together. For example, how has the quality called 'hot' been imposed on the atoms?

Gist of Idea

If only atoms exist, how do qualities arise when the atoms come together?

Source

Plutarch (74: Reply to Colotes [c.85], §1111)

Book Ref

Plutarch: 'Moralia - vol 14', ed/tr. Einarson,B. /De Lacy P.H. [Harvard Loeb 1967], p.215

A Reaction

This argument is still significant in current philosophy of mind. If temperature is 'mean kinetic energy', you are left wondering where the energy came from, and why minds experience the heat. This is the 'Hard Question'.

The 16 ideas from Plutarch

5957 Absurd superstitions make people atheist, not disharmony in nature [Plutarch]
5958 The sun is always bright; it doesn't become bright when it emerges [Plutarch]
1477 Being manly and brave is the result of convention, not of human nature [Plutarch]
1479 Animals have not been led into homosexuality, because they value pleasure very little [Plutarch]
1478 Animals don't value pleasure, as they cease sexual intercourse after impregnation [Plutarch]
5960 When the soul is intelligent and harmonious, it is part of god and derives from god [Plutarch]
5963 Some say emotion is a sort of reason, and others say virtue concerns emotion [Plutarch]
5974 People report seeing through rocks, or over the horizon, or impossibly small works [Plutarch]
5948 The good life involves social participation, loyalty, temperance and honesty [Plutarch]
5950 If only atoms exist, how do qualities arise when the atoms come together? [Plutarch]
5951 If atoms have no qualities, they cannot possibly produce a mind [Plutarch]
5952 Rather than being the whole soul, maybe I am its chief part? [Plutarch]
5955 No one will ever find a city that lacks religious practices [Plutarch]
20796 Action needs an affinity for a presentation, and an impulse toward the affinity [Plutarch]
5959 Some philosophers say the soul is light [Plutarch]
1212 Replacing timbers on Theseus' ship was the classic illustration of the problem of growth and change [Plutarch]