Analysis of Four Philosophers Explanations for the Natural World - Essay Example

Thales thought the primary and most fundamental substance and the principle of the Universe was water (SEP). He thought water makes up every substance in the Universe on some basic level. He also believed every substance originally came from water. He also believed water was the original state of the Universe and everything still is water, but just in different states.

Another Pre-Socratic philosopher who discussed the physical basis of the Universe was Parmenides. Parmenides’ main assumption about the universe is that it is one unchanging entity. The Universe physically is made up of only one thing, and there is only one universe. There is no change in the universe and there never was, and never will be. The Universe always has existed and always will exist (SEP). The world of human perception for Parmenides is a world of change and contingency, and not what is essentially real (SEP). What is real is the one static Universe.

Parmenides’ view can in a way be seen as a precursor to that of Plato, who also placed an emphasis on what is eternal and unchanging. Plato believed that true knowledge could not be gained through the senses. Knowledge of sensible particulars is transient, and not eternal and unchanging knowledge (Phaedo). Plato believed the only way to true knowledge was through the discovery of the Forms, which are Universal perfect versions of everything in the sensible world (Phaedo). The physical world for Plato is composed of instantiations of these forms, but they are not the most fundamental aspect of the Universe, because they are always changing, and are subject to the imperfect capacities of human perception. Only through reason can humans start to come close to the world of the forms, and only after death does they truly discover it.

Epicurus is fundamentally an atomist like the Pre-Socratic Democritus before him. “Epicurus held that the elementary constituents of nature are undifferentiated matter, in the form of discrete, solid and indivisible particles (“atoms”) below the threshold of perception, plus empty space) (SEP). He defined the atom as that which cannot be broken apart but pointed out atoms are not the smallest possible entity. He states that it is impossible to have an entity that is the minimum, extended size. He also argues that time and motion are discrete and infinite (SEP). Furthermore, he asserts that all atoms move at the same speed.
An interesting aspect of Epicurean physics is his explanation for gravity. Although it does not correspond with any recognized modern recognized theory of gravity, his vision is novel and interesting. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy provides the following summary of his viewpoint:

If an atom just on its own cannot slow down or alter its direction of motion, then an atom that is rising or moving in an oblique direction cannot at some point begin to tilt or fall, unless something blocks its progress and forces it to do so. If, however, after a collision atoms tended to emerge in a statistically favored direction — that is, if the motions of all atoms after collisions did not cancel each other out but on average produced a vector, however small, in a given direction, then that direction would by definition be down. The absence of a global orientation in the universe was thus immaterial. Due to this vector, any given world will, like our own, be similarly oriented in respect to gravitation (SEP).
Here, we see a common-sense view of gravity. He explains that an object continues to move in the same direction until, at some point, it starts to tilt and fall back to the earth. If another object blocks or diverts its path, the object goes in the other direction. In short, Epicurus’ view of the natural world tells a more plausible account than Plato and the pre-Socratics but is still premature compared to the views of Locke and Newton in the Classical Modern period.

From the Pre-Socratics to Plato, to Epicurus, we see a historical progression of the Western conception of physical phenomena. While the pre-Socratics discussed take basic and conceptual approaches, Plato takes a complex and abstract, theoretical approach. Finally, Epicurus comes closest to modern sensibilities by delineating natural phenomena such as atoms and gravity. Read More