Book 1
8
Further, he was the first to maintain that the so-called material elements are four—not that he uses them as four, but as two only, treating fire on the one hand by itself, and the elements opposed to it—earth, air and water—on the other, as a single nature.Cf. 3.14. This can be seen from a study of his writings.e.g. Empedocles, Fr. 62 (Diels).
9
Such, then, as I say, is his account of the nature and number of the first principles.
9
Leucippus,Of Miletus; fl. circa 440 (?) B.C. See Burnet, E.G.P. 171 ff. however, and his disciple DemocritusOf Abdera; fl. circa 420 B.C. E.G.P loc. cit. hold that the elements are the Full and the Void—calling the one what is and the other what is not. Of these they identify the full or solid with what is, and the void or rare with what is not (hence they hold that what is not is no less real than what is,For the probable connection between the Atomists and the Eleatics see E.G.P. 173, 175, and cf. De Gen. et Corr. 324b 35-325a 32. because Void is as real as Body); and they say that these are the material causes of things.
10
And just as those who make the underlying substance a unity generate all other things by means of its modifications, assuming rarity and density as first principles of these modifications, so these thinkers hold that the differencesi.e., of the atoms. are the causes of everything else.
11
These differences, they say, are three: shape, arrangement, and position; because they hold that what is differs only in contour, inter-contact, and inclination .Cf. R.P. 194.(Of these contour means shape, inter-contact arrangement, and inclination position.) Thus, e.g., A differs from N in shape, AN from NA in arrangement, and Z from NThese letters will convey Aristotle’s point better to the English reader, but see critical note. in position.
