| 321BCE | On the Senses |
| 70 | p.415 | 20921 | How can we state relativism of sweet and sour, if they have no determinate nature? |
| Full Idea: How could what is bitter for us be sweet and sour for others, if there is not some determinate nature for them? | |||
| From: Theophrastus (On the Senses [c.321 BCE], 70) | |||
| A reaction: The remark is aimed at Democritus. This is part of the general question of how you can even talk about relativism, without attaching stable meanings to the concepts employed. |
| 320BCE | On Metaphysics (frags) |
| p.62 | 5990 | Theophrastus doubted whether nature could be explained teleologically | |
| Full Idea: Theophrastus questioned Aristotle's teaching on the extent to which teleological explanations could be applied to the natural world. | |||
| From: report of Theophrastus (On Metaphysics (frags) [c.320 BCE]) by H.B. Gottschalk - Aristotelianism | |||
| A reaction: It is interesting to see that Aristotle's own immediate successor had doubts about teleology. We usually assume that the ancients were teleological, and this was rejected in the seventeenth century (e.g. Idea 4826). |