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Single Idea 20915

[filed under theme 29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / a. Immortality ]

Full Idea

Democritus says the soul is destructible, and is destroyed together with the whole body.

Gist of Idea

The soul is destroyed with the body

Source

report of Democritus (fragments/reports [c.431 BCE], A109) by Pseudo-Plutarch - On the Doctrine of the Philosophers 4.7.4

Book Ref

Democritus: 'Early Greek Phil VII: Democritus', ed/tr. Laks,A/Most,G [Harvard Loeb 2016], p.197

A Reaction

This is the only belief possible for Democritus, since everything, including life and soul, is just the confluence of atoms, and they are regularly dispersed. This is the epitome of materialist philosophy.

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]