Abstract
What is Leucippus and Democritus’ theory of the beginning of life? How,
if at all, did Leucippus and Democritus distinguish different kinds of
living things? These questions are challenging in part because these
Atomists claim that all living beings – including plants – have a share
of reason and understanding. We answer these questions by examining the
extant evidence concerning their views on embryology, the soul and
respiration, and sense perception, thereby giving an overview of life
and lifeforms in early Greek atomism. We show, first, that the
generation of all living beings happens through the combining of
miniature copies of their parents’ atomic structures. Second, we argue
that the Atomists take respiration to mark the beginning of life. Yet
they do not consider respiration nor being ensouled to distinguish
humans, animals, and plants from each other. Finally, because Leucippus
and Democritus make little distinction between sense perception and
thought, these too cannot sharply distinguish between different kinds of
living beings. We conclude that Leucippus and Democritus advocated a
less anthropocentric and more holistic view of the cosmos.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 601-625 |
Number of pages | 25 |
Journal | Apeiron |
Volume | 55 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 12 Jul 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 26 Oct 2022 |
Keywords
- Democritus
- Ancient Atomism
- Ancient embryology
- Theory of respiration
- Ancient biology