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Single Idea 20896

[filed under theme 7. Existence / E. Categories / 5. Category Anti-Realism ]

Full Idea

In reality [eteé] to recognise what sort each thing is, belongs to what is impracticable [aporos].

Gist of Idea

It is not possible to know what sort each thing is

Source

Democritus (fragments/reports [c.431 BCE], B008), quoted by Sextus Empiricus - Against the Logicians (two books) 7.137

Book Ref

Democritus: 'Early Greek Phil VII: Democritus', ed/tr. Laks,A/Most,G [Harvard Loeb 2016], p.79

A Reaction

On the whole modern scientists (and the rest of us) shoehorn virtually everything into a specific category. It strikes me as wildly bad metaphysics to say that everything necessarily has its category.

The 54 ideas from Democritus

16146 Two can't be a self-contained unit, because it would need to be one to do that [Democritus, by Aristotle]
3357 Democritus denies reality to large objects, because atomic entities can't combine to produce new ones [Benardete,JA on Democritus]
598 Democritus said that substances could never be mixed, so atoms are the substances [Democritus, by Aristotle]
5882 Democritus says soul consists of smooth round bodies brought together in accidental collision [Democritus, by Cicero]
6034 Atomists say soul has a rational part in the chest, and a diffused non-rational part [Democritus, by Aetius]
20916 Animals have a share of reason [Democritus, by Porphyry]
6033 Democritus said everything happens of necessity, by natural motion of atoms [Democritus, by Cicero]
5088 Some say there is a determinate cause for every apparently spontaneous event [Democritus, by Aristotle]
21670 Democritus said atoms only move by their natural motions, which are therefore necessary [Democritus, by Cicero]
13551 Democritus says wealth is a burden to the virtuous mind [Democritus, by Seneca]
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]
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]
23314 Greeks explained regularity by intellectual design, not by laws [Democritus, by Frede,M]
20893 Nothing comes from non-existence, or passes into it [Democritus, by Diog. Laertius]
20902 Being does not exist more than non-being [Democritus, by Aristotle]
20903 The only distinctions are Configuration (shape), Disposition (order) and Turning (position) [Democritus, by Aristotle]
1525 Atomists say there are only three differences - in shape, arrangement and position [Democritus, by Aristotle]
20901 True Being only occurs when it is completely full, with atoms and no void [Democritus, by Aristotle]
20904 The non-existent exists as much as the existent, because it has causal powers [Democritus]
1533 Because appearance is infinitely varied, atomists assume infinitely many shapes of atom [Democritus, by Aristotle]
20911 There are unlimited worlds of varying sizes, some without life or water [Democritus, by Hippolytus]
20905 Growth and movement would not exist if there were no void to receive them [Democritus]
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]
1535 Democritus said people imagined gods as the source of what awed or frightened them [Democritus, by Sext.Empiricus]
20912 The soul is the same as the mind [Democritus, by Aristotle]
20914 The directive centre is located in the whole head [Democritus, by Ps-Plutarch]
20915 The soul is destroyed with the body [Democritus, by Ps-Plutarch]
577 Democritus says there is either no truth, or it is concealed from us [Democritus, by Aristotle]
20913 Democritus says the soul is the body, and thinking is thus the mixture of the body [Democritus, by Theophrastus]
1532 Sensible qualities can't be real if they appear different to different creatures [Democritus, by Theophrastus]
1537 Happiness is identifying and separating the pleasures [Democritus, by Stobaeus]
20910 Everything happens necessarily, and for a reason [Democritus]
20894 Man is separated from reality [Democritus]
20895 We actually know nothing, and opinions are mere flux [Democritus]
1528 We in fact know nothing, but we each restructure our reality with beliefs [Democritus]
492 It is obviously impossible to understand the reality of each thing [Democritus]
20896 It is not possible to know what sort each thing is [Democritus]
493 Experiences are merely convention; only atoms and the void are real [Democritus]
20897 Obscure knowledge belongs to the five senses, and genuine knowledge is the other type [Democritus]
495 Wisdom creates a healthy passion-free soul [Democritus]
515 We know nothing in reality; for truth lies in an abyss [Democritus]
20892 Democritus was devoted to discovering causal explanations [Democritus, by Eusebius]
517 All evidence comes from senses, so they are indispensable to the mind [Democritus]
1536 If a cone is horizontally sliced the surfaces can't be equal, so it goes up in steps [Democritus]
1540 Pleasure and pain guide our choices of good and bad [Democritus]
20917 Contentment comes from moderation and proportion in life [Democritus, by Stobaeus]
24041 Democritus says spherical atoms are fire, and constitute the soul [psuche] [Democritus, by Aristotle]