I'm fascinated by the philosopher Democritus - why did he and those like him look for physical explanations of reality? A huge step.
@sjzara He didn't *look* for physical explanations. It was still speculative metaphysics. It just happened he hit on (nearly) right answer.
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@PhilosophyExp But... didn't he look for explanations which didn't involve 'purpose' etc.? -
@sjzara Like other Pre-Socratics, he was speculating. (So, for example, believed that bitter tastes were a function of angular atoms.) -
@PhilosophyExp Yes, I did like like the funny shaped atoms part :) -
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@sjzara@PhilosophyExp Yes. Didn't Democritus also speculate that there could be huge atoms of every shape?
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@PhilosophyExp But it seems to me (in my ignorance) that the decision to avoid looking for purpose was a big step? -
@sjzara Purpose only really became a big deal with Aristotle's 4 causes (well his final cause). -
@PhilosophyExp Ah OK. I have been reading a commentary which seems backwards, as in 'Democritus avoided ideas of final cause'. -
@sjzara Well he did. But that statement is (likely) simply a reflection of the fact that Aristotelianism came to dominate, etc.
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