Stoic physics refers to the natural philosophy of the Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome which they used to explain the natural processes at work in the universe .
135-486: To the Stoics, the cosmos is a single pantheistic god, one which is rational and creative, and which is the basis of everything which exists. Nothing incorporeal exists. The nature of the world is one of unceasing change, driven by the active part or reason ( logos ) of God which pervades all things. The active substance of the world is characterized as a 'breath', or pneuma , which provides form and motion to matter, and
270-409: A finite period in an infinite span of time. Ekpyrosis itself however, was not a universally accepted theory by all Stoics. Other prominent stoics such as Panaetius , Zeno of Tarsus , Boethus of Sidon , and others either rejected Ekpyrosis or had differing opinions regarding its degree. A strong acceptance of Aristotle 's theories of the universe, combined with a more practical lifestyle practiced by
405-405: A form of absolute nondualism . Material monism can be traced back to the pre-Socratic philosophers who sought to understand the arche or basic principle of the universe in terms of different material causes. These included Thales , who argued that the basis of everything was water, Anaximenes , who claimed it was air, and Heraclitus who believed it to be fire. Later, Parmenides described
540-526: A homogeneous natural substance (e.g., flesh, bone, or wood) could be divided and still retain its essential character. Unlike the atomism of Democritus, these Aristotelian "natural minima" were not conceptualized as physically indivisible. Instead, Aristotle's concept was rooted in his hylomorphic worldview, which held that every physical thing is a compound of matter (Greek hyle ) and of an immaterial substantial form (Greek morphe ) that imparts its essential nature and structure. To use an analogy we could pose
675-462: A kind that can be perceived. Epicurus' ideas re-appear in the works of his Roman follower Lucretius ( c. 99 BC – c. 55 BC), who wrote On the Nature of Things . This Classical Latin scientific work in poetic form illustrates several segments of Epicurean theory on how the universe came into its current stage; it shows that the phenomena we perceive are actually composite forms. The atoms and
810-453: A large amount of the element water, and smaller amounts of the other elements. But whatever water or other elements were left, they would no longer have the "nature" of flesh: in hylomorphic terms, they would no longer be matter structured by the form of flesh; instead the remaining water, e.g., would be matter structured by the form of water, not by the form of flesh. Epicurus (341–270 BCE) studied atomism with Nausiphanes who had been
945-428: A life according to Nature. As reasoning creatures, humans have a share in Nature's rationality. The good for a human is to be fully rational, behaving as Nature does to maintain the natural order. This means to know the logic of the good, to understand the rational explanation of the universe, and the nature and possibilities of being human. The only evil for a human is to behave irrationally—to fail to act upon reason—such
1080-429: A new cycle begins again. Since the world operates through reason, all things are determined . But the Stoics adopted a compatibilist view which allowed humans freedom and responsibility within the causal network of fate. Humans are part of the logos which permeates the cosmos. The human soul is a physical unity of reason and mind. The good for a human is thus to be fully rational, behaving as Nature does in
1215-422: A new cycle of the cosmos begins ( palingenesis ), reproducing the previous world, and so on forever. Therefore, the same events play out again repeated endlessly. Since the cosmos always unfolds according to the best possible reason , any succeeding world is likely to be identical to the previous one. Thus in the same way that the cosmos occupies a finite space in an infinite void, so it can be understood to occupy
1350-436: A person is insane. To the Stoics nothing passes unexplained; there is a reason ( Logos ) for everything in nature. Because of the Stoics' commitment to the unity and cohesion of the cosmos and its all-encompassing reason, they fully embraced determinism . However instead of a single chain of causal events, there is instead a many-dimensional network of events interacting within the framework of fate. Out of this swarm of causes,
1485-440: A plausible account of changes among the primary substances. Sometime before 330 BC Aristotle asserted that the elements of fire, air, earth, and water were not made of atoms, but were continuous. Aristotle considered the existence of a void, which was required by atomic theories, to violate physical principles. Change took place not by the rearrangement of atoms to make new structures, but by transformation of matter from what it
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#17328555269591620-446: A proto-mentality of elementary particles with his vitalist view, "there is life in all matter, throughout the vast extent of all the eternities; it is in the rock, the sand, the dust, in water, air, the gases, and in short, in every description and organization of matter; whether it be solid, liquid, or gaseous, particle operating with particle." Atomism Atomism (from Greek ἄτομον , atomon , i.e. "uncuttable, indivisible")
1755-410: A rubber ball: we could imagine the rubber to be the matter that gives the ball the ability to take on another form, and the spherical shape to be the form that gives it its identity of "ball". Using this analogy, though, we should keep in mind that in fact rubber itself would already be considered a composite of form and matter, as it has identity and determinacy to a certain extent, pure or primary matter
1890-553: A student of Democritus. Although Epicurus was certain of the existence of atoms and the void, he was less sure we could adequately explain specific natural phenomena such as earthquakes, lightning, comets, or the phases of the Moon. Few of Epicurus' writings survive, and those that do reflect his interest in applying Democritus' theories to assist people in taking responsibility for themselves and for their own happiness—since he held there are no gods around that can help them. (Epicurus regarded
2025-493: A void that could divide it. Finally, he stated that the all encompassing Unity is unchanging, for the Unity already encompasses all that is and can be. Democritus rejected Parmenides' belief that change is an illusion. He believed change was real, and if it was not then at least the illusion had to be explained. He thus supported the concept of void, and stated that the universe is made up of many Parmenidean entities that move around in
2160-844: Is "in" the cosmos. While pantheism asserts that 'All is God', panentheism claims that God animates all of the universe, and also transcends the universe. In addition, some forms indicate that the universe is contained within God, like in the Judaic concept of Tzimtzum . Much Hindu thought is highly characterized by panentheism and pantheism. Paul Tillich has argued for such a concept within Christian theology, as has liberal biblical scholar Marcus Borg and mystical theologian Matthew Fox , an Episcopal priest. Pandeism or pan-deism (from Ancient Greek : πᾶν , romanized : pan , lit. 'all' and Latin : deus meaning " god " in
2295-439: Is God acting as the rational principle ( logos ), and which has a higher status than the passive matter ( ousia ). In their earlier writings the Stoics characterised the rational principle as a creative fire, but later accounts stress the idea of breath, or pneuma , as the active substance. The cosmos is thus filled with an all-pervading pneuma which allows for the cohesion of matter and permits contact between all parts of
2430-589: Is a natural philosophy proposing that the physical universe is composed of fundamental indivisible components known as atoms . References to the concept of atomism and its atoms appeared in both ancient Greek and ancient Indian philosophical traditions. Leucippus is the earliest figure whose commitment to atomism is well attested and he is usually credited with inventing atomism. He and other ancient Greek atomists theorized that nature consists of two fundamental principles : atom and void . Clusters of different shapes, arrangements, and positions give rise to
2565-463: Is a meditative exercise of withdrawal from the particular and identification with the universal, leading to contemplation of oneself as the most universal, namely, Consciousness. This approach is different from the classical Yoga of complete thought suppression. Vivekananda, according to Gavin Flood , was "a figure of great importance in the development of a modern Hindu self-understanding and in formulating
2700-467: Is a property of the pneuma , and physical bodies are held together by the pneuma which is in a continual state of motion. The various pneuma currents combining give objects their stable, physical properties ( hexis ). A thing is no longer, as Plato maintained, hot or hard or bright by partaking in abstract heat or hardness or brightness, but by containing within its own substance the material of these pneuma currents in various degrees of tension. As to
2835-473: Is advantageous, excludes them from his life. However, according to science historian Charles Coulston Gillispie: Encased in the Epicurean philosophy, the atomic doctrine could never be welcome to moral authority. ... Epicurean gods neither created the world nor paid it ... attention. "Nature," says Lucretius, "is free and uncontrolled by proud masters and runs the universe by herself without the aid of gods." Only
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#17328555269592970-449: Is an incorporeal being that caused all other existence. According to Maimonides, to admit corporeality to God is tantamount to admitting complexity to God, which is a contradiction to God as the first cause and constitutes heresy . While Hasidic mystics considered the existence of the physical world a contradiction to God's simpleness , Maimonides saw no contradiction. According to Hasidic thought (particularly as propounded by
3105-558: Is because God/Nature has all the possible attributes and no two substances can share an attribute, which means there can be no other substances than God/Nature. Monism has been discussed thoroughly in Indian philosophy and Vedanta throughout their history starting as early as the Rig Veda . The term monism was introduced in the 18th century by Christian von Wolff in his work Logic (1728), to designate types of philosophical thought in which
3240-453: Is completely unformed, unintelligible and with infinite potential to undergo change. Aristotle's intuition was that there is some smallest size beyond which matter could no longer be structured as flesh, or bone, or wood, or some other such organic substance that for Aristotle (living before the invention of the microscope) could be considered homogeneous. For instance, if flesh were divided beyond its natural minimum, what would be left might be
3375-442: Is composed. In general, however, the belief that a vacuum is impossible was almost universally held until the end of the sixteenth century. ... The time was certainly ripe for the revival of the belief in the possibility of a vacuum, but to the clerics the very name of the vacuum was anathema, being associated with the atomistic theories of Epicurus and Lucretius, which were felt to be heretical. While Aristotelian philosophy eclipsed
3510-443: Is experience and discursive thought, which manipulates the materials of sense . Our ideas are copied from stored-up sensations. Just as a relaxation in tension brings about the dissolution of the universe; so in the body, a relaxation of tension, accounts for sleep , decay, and death for the human body . After death the disembodied soul can only maintain its separate existence, even for a limited time, by mounting to that region of
3645-410: Is itself a living thing or being, and the pneuma pervading it, and conditioning life and growth everywhere, is its soul . The process of differentiation is not eternal; it continues only until the time of the restoration of all things. For the cosmos will in turn decay, and the tension which has been relaxed will again be tightened. Things will gradually resolve into elements, and the elements into
3780-453: Is not one with nature. Panentheism differentiates itself from pantheism , which holds that the divine is synonymous with the universe. In panentheism, there are two types of substance, "pan" the universe and God. The universe and the divine are not ontologically equivalent. God is viewed as the eternal animating force within the universe. In some forms of panentheism, the cosmos exists within God, who in turn " transcends ", "pervades" or
3915-535: Is one substance, called Universe, God or Nature. Panentheism , a slightly different concept (explained below). Some of the most famous pantheists are the Stoics , Giordano Bruno and Spinoza . Panentheism (from Greek πᾶν (pân) "all"; ἐν (en) "in"; and θεός (theós) "God"; "all-in-God") is a belief system that posits that the divine (be it a monotheistic God , polytheistic gods , or an eternal cosmic animating force) interpenetrates every part of nature, but
4050-460: Is possible; here the Stoics agreed with the Epicureans. It is necessary, therefore, that assent should not be given indiscriminately; we must determine a criterion of truth, a special formal test whereby reason may recognize the merely plausible and hold fast the true. The earlier Stoics made right reason the standard of truth. Zeno compared sensation to the outstretched hand , flat and open; bending
4185-413: Is something acting within them, "a spirit deeply interfused," germinating and developing from within. In one sense the Stoics believed that this is the best of all possible worlds . Only God or Nature is good, and Nature is perfectly rational. It is an organic unity and completely ordered. The goodness of Nature manifests in the way it works to arrange things in the most rational way. For the Stoics this
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4320-547: Is the body which confines and shelters the atoms of soul. This corporeal soul is reason , mind , and ruling principle; in virtue of its divine origin Cleanthes can say to Zeus, "We too are thy offspring," and Seneca can calmly insist that, if man and God are not on perfect equality, the superiority rests rather on our side. What God is for the world, the soul is for humans. The cosmos is a single whole, its variety being referred to varying stages of condensation in pneuma . So, too,
4455-569: Is the discernment of levels of truth, an emphasis on intuitive-experiential understanding of the Absolute such as jnana , bodhi and jianxing: (Chinese; 見性) , and the technology of yin and yang used within East Asian medicine with an emphasis on the integration of these levels of truth and its understanding. Vedanta is the inquiry into and systematisation of the Vedas and Upanishads, to harmonise
4590-460: Is the most common among Hindus today. This monism, according to Flood, is at the foundation of earlier Upanishads, to theosophy in the later Vedanta tradition and in modern Neo-Hinduism. According to the Pāli Canon , both pluralism ( nānatta ) and monism ( ekatta ) are speculative views . A Theravada commentary notes that the former is similar to or associated with nihilism ( ucchēdavāda ), and
4725-404: Is the origin of the elements , life, and human rationality. The cosmos proceeds from an original state in utmost heat, and, in the cooling and separation that occurs, all things appear which are only different and stages in the change of primitive being. Eventually though, the world will be reabsorbed into the primary substance, to be consumed in a general conflagration ( ekpyrôsis ), out of which
4860-479: Is therefore the most reasonable, the most rational , of all possible worlds. None of the events which occur by Nature are inherently bad; but nor are they intrinsically 'good' even though they have been caused by a good agent. The natural patterning of the world—life, death, sickness, health, etc.—is made up of morally indifferent events which in themselves are neither good nor bad. Such events are not unimportant, but they only have value in as far as they contribute to
4995-473: The identity thesis , a modern form of monism. Monism is also still relevant to the philosophy of mind , where various positions are defended. Different types of monism include: Views contrasting with monism are: Monism in modern philosophy of mind can be divided into three broad categories: Certain positions do not fit easily into the above categories, such as functionalism , anomalous monism , and reflexive monism . Moreover, they do not define
5130-749: The Abhidhammattha-sangaha , a text dated to the 11th or 12th century, postulates the existence of rupa-kalapa , imagined as the smallest units of the physical world, of varying elementary composition. Invisible under normal circumstances, the rupa-kalapa are said to become visible as a result of meditative samadhi . Atomistic philosophies are found very early in Islamic philosophy and were influenced originally by earlier Greek and, to some extent, Indian philosophy. Islamic speculative theology in general approached issues in physics from an atomistic framework. The most successful form of Islamic atomism
5265-861: The Charvaka , and Ajivika schools of atomism originated as early as the 7th century BCE. Bhattacharya posits that Charvaka may have been one of several atheistic, materialist schools that existed in ancient India. Kanada founded the Vaisheshika school of Indian philosophy that also represents the earliest Indian natural philosophy . The Nyaya and Vaisheshika schools developed theories on how kaṇa s combined into more complex objects. Several of these doctrines of atomism are, in some respects, "suggestively similar" to that of Democritus. McEvilley (2002) assumes that such similarities are due to extensive cultural contact and diffusion, probably in both directions. The Nyaya – Vaisesika school developed one of
5400-403: The earth , hot springs , sparks from the flint , were claimed as the last remnant of pneuma not yet utterly slackened and cold. They appealed also to the speed and expansion of gaseous bodies, to whirlwinds and inflated balloons . In the rational creatures pneuma is manifested in the highest degree of purity and intensity as an emanation from the world-soul . Humans have souls because
5535-640: The fingers was assent; the clenched fist was "simple apprehension," the mental grasp of an object; knowledge was the clenched fist tightly held in the other hand. But this criterion was open to the persistent attacks of Epicureans and Academics , who made clear (1) that reason is dependent upon, if not derived from, sense, and (2) that the utterances of reason lack consistency. Chrysippus, therefore, did much to develop Stoic logic , and more clearly defined and safeguarded his predecessors' position. a. Some historians prefer to describe Stoic doctrine as "corporealism" rather than "materialism". One objection to
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5670-404: The pneuma of the world-soul pervades the whole universe, this allows human souls to be influenced by divine souls. Omens and portents, Chrysippus explained, are the natural symptoms of certain occurrences. There must be countless indications of the course of providence , for the most part unobserved, the meaning of only a few having become known to humanity. To those who argued that divination
5805-736: The "distinction which the Eleatic school drew between the Absolute , or the only real existence, and the world of change around us." Democritus believed that atoms are too small for human senses to detect, that they are infinitely many, that they come in infinitely many varieties, and that they have always existed. They float in a vacuum, which Democritus called the "void" , and they vary in form, order, and posture. Some atoms, he maintained, are convex, others concave, some shaped like hooks, and others like eyes . They are constantly moving and colliding into each other. Democritus wrote that atoms and void are
5940-740: The 17th century, a renewed interest arose in Epicurean atomism and corpuscularianism as a hybrid or an alternative to Aristotelian physics . The main figures in the rebirth of atomism were Isaac Beeckman , René Descartes , Pierre Gassendi , and Robert Boyle , as well as other notable figures. One of the first groups of atomists in England was a cadre of amateur scientists known as the Northumberland circle, led by Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (1564–1632). Although they published little of account, they helped to disseminate atomistic ideas among
6075-504: The 18th century, early 19th-century founder of Chabad , Shneur Zalman of Liadi ), God is held to be immanent within creation for two interrelated reasons: The Vilna Gaon was very much against this philosophy, for he felt that it would lead to pantheism and heresy. According to some this is the main reason for the Gaon's ban on Chasidism. Christians maintain that God created the universe ex nihilo and not from his own substance, so that
6210-412: The 7th century, was very different from the atomist doctrines taught in early Buddhism. Medieval Buddhist philosophers Dharmakirti and Dignāga considered atoms to be point-sized, durationless, and made of energy. In discussing the two systems, Fyodor Shcherbatskoy (1930) stresses their commonality, the postulate of "absolute qualities" ( guna-dharma ) underlying all empirical phenomena. Still later,
6345-636: The Roman people, caused the later Stoics to focus their main effort on their own social well-being on earth, not on the cosmos. A prime example are the Stoic-influenced writings of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121–180). In his Meditations , he chooses to discuss how one should act and live their life, rather than speculate on cosmological theories. The Stoics attempted to incorporate traditional polytheism into their philosophy. Not only
6480-438: The Stoics saw the cosmos as an island embedded in an infinite void. The cosmos has its own hexis which holds it together and protects it and the surrounding void cannot affect it. The cosmos can, however, vary in volume, allowing it to expand and contract in volume through its cycles. The pneuma of the Stoics is the primitive substance which existed before the cosmos. It is the everlasting presupposition of particular things;
6615-483: The West's view of Hinduism." Central to his philosophy is the idea that the divine exists in all beings, that all human beings can achieve union with this "innate divinity", and that seeing this divine as the essence of others will further love and social harmony. According to Vivekananda, there is an essential unity to Hinduism, which underlies the diversity of its many forms. According to Flood, Vivekananda's view of Hinduism
6750-464: The adjacent table. The cube, with its flat base and stability, was assigned to earth; the tetrahedron was assigned to fire because its penetrating points and sharp edges made it mobile. The points and edges of the octahedron and icosahedron were blunter and so these less mobile bodies were assigned to air and water. Since the simple bodies could be decomposed into triangles, and the triangles reassembled into atoms of different elements, Plato's model offered
6885-460: The aggregation and nature of these atoms was predetermined by cosmic forces. The school founder's traditional name Kanada means 'atom eater', and he is known for developing the foundations of an atomistic approach to physics and philosophy in the Sanskrit text Vaiśeṣika Sūtra . His text is also known as Kanada Sutras , or Aphorisms of Kanada. Medieval Buddhist atomism , flourishing around
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#17328555269597020-446: The atomism of Epicurus had fallen out of favor in the centuries of Scholasticism , the minima naturalia of Aristotelianism received extensive consideration. Speculation on minima naturalia provided philosophical background for the mechanistic philosophy of early modern thinkers such as Descartes, and for the alchemical works of Geber and Daniel Sennert , who in turn influenced the corpuscularian alchemist Robert Boyle , one of
7155-685: The atomism of the Asharites and expounded on many Greek texts, especially those of Aristotle. An active school of philosophers in Al-Andalus, including the noted commentator Averroes (1126–1198 CE) explicitly rejected the thought of al-Ghazali and turned to an extensive evaluation of the thought of Aristotle. Averroes commented in detail on most of the works of Aristotle and his commentaries became very influential in Jewish and Christian scholastic thought. According to historian of atomism Joshua Gregory, there
7290-404: The atomists among ... Greek science ... was the one view of nature quite incompatible with theology. Like a pair of eighteenth-century philosophers, Epicurus and Lucretius introduced atomism as a vehicle of enlightenment. They meant to refute the pretensions of religion ... and release men from superstition and the undignified fear of capricious gods. Consequently, a hint of Epicureanism came to seem
7425-673: The attempt was made to eliminate the dichotomy of body and mind and explain all phenomena by one unifying principle, or as manifestations of a single substance. The mind–body problem in philosophy examines the relationship between mind and matter, and in particular the relationship between consciousness and the brain . The problem was addressed by René Descartes in the 17th century, resulting in Cartesian dualism , and by pre- Aristotelian philosophers, in Avicennian philosophy , and in earlier Asian and more specifically Indian traditions. It
7560-567: The basis of moral absolutism , and rejected the dualistic notion that God and Satan are opposites, arguing instead that God has no equal, hence no opposite. Lewis rather viewed Satan as the opposite of Michael the archangel . Due to this, Lewis instead argued for a more limited type of dualism. Other theologians, such as Greg Boyd , have argued in more depth that the Biblical authors held a "limited dualism", meaning that God and Satan do engage in real battle, but only due to free will given by God, for
7695-448: The belief that the creator of the universe actually became the universe, and so ceased to exist as a separate entity. Through this synergy pandeism claims to answer primary objections to deism (why would God create and then not interact with the universe?) and to pantheism (how did the universe originate and what is its purpose?). The central problem in Asian (religious) philosophy is not
7830-515: The body-mind problem, but the search for an unchanging Real or Absolute beyond the world of appearances and changing phenomena, and the search for liberation from dukkha and the liberation from the cycle of rebirth . In Hinduism, substance-ontology prevails, seeing Brahman as the unchanging real beyond the world of appearances . In Buddhism, process ontology is prevalent, seeing reality as empty of an unchanging essence. Characteristic for various Asian philosophy, technology and religions
7965-824: The burgeoning scientific culture of England, and may have been particularly influential to Francis Bacon , who became an atomist around 1605, though he later rejected some of the claims of atomism. Though they revived the classical form of atomism, this group was among the scientific avant-garde: the Northumberland circle contained nearly half of the confirmed Copernicans prior to 1610 (the year of Galileo's The Starry Messenger ). Other influential atomists of late 16th and early 17th centuries include Giordano Bruno , Thomas Hobbes (who also changed his stance on atomism late in his career), and Thomas Hariot . A number of different atomistic theories were blossoming in France at this time, as well (Clericuzio 2000). Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)
8100-450: The concept of Absolute Monism. Sikh philosophy advocates that all that our senses comprehend is an illusion; God is the ultimate reality. Forms being subject to time shall pass away. God's Reality alone is eternal and abiding. The thought is that Atma (soul) is born from, and a reflection of, ParamAtma (Supreme Soul), and "will again merge into it", in the words of the fifth guru of Sikhs, Guru Arjan , "just as water merges back into
8235-454: The cosmos. The pneuma is everywhere coextensive with matter, pervading and permeating it, and, together with it, occupying and filling space. The Epicureans had placed the form and movement of matter in the chance movements of primitive atoms . In the Stoic system material substance has a continuous structure, held together by tension ( tonos ) as the essential attribute of body. This tension
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#17328555269598370-471: The course of events is fully realised. Humans appear to have free will because personal actions participate in the determined chain of events independently of external conditions. This " soft-determinism " allows humans to be responsible for their own actions, alleviating the apparent arbitrariness of fate. Divination was an essential element of Greek religion , and the Stoics attempted to reconcile it with their own rational doctrine of strict causation. Since
8505-675: The creator is not to be confused with creation, but rather transcends it. There is a movement of " Christian Panentheism ". In On Free Choice of the Will , Augustine argued, in the context of the problem of evil , that evil is not the opposite of good, but rather merely the absence of good, something that does not have existence in itself. Likewise, C. S. Lewis described evil as a "parasite" in Mere Christianity , as he viewed evil as something that cannot exist without good to provide it with existence. Lewis went on to argue against dualism from
8640-659: The curriculum in the universities of Europe was based on such Aristotelianism for most of the Middle Ages. In medieval universities there were, however, expressions of atomism. For example, in the 14th century Nicholas of Autrecourt considered that matter, space, and time were all made up of indivisible atoms, points, and instants and that all generation and corruption took place by the rearrangement of material atoms. The similarities of his ideas with those of al-Ghazali suggest that Nicholas may have been familiar with Ghazali's work, perhaps through Averroes ' refutation of it. In
8775-418: The degree of tension is slackened, and the resulting element approaches more and more to "inert" matter. But, just as one element does not wholly transform into another (e.g. only a part of air is transmuted into water or earth), so the pneuma itself does not wholly transform into the elements. From the elements the one substance is transformed into the multitude of individual things in the orderly cosmos, which
8910-410: The different packings and scatterings of the atoms in the void that compose the object that organisms sense as being "hot" or "cold". The work of Democritus survives only in secondhand reports, some of which are unreliable or conflicting. Much of the best evidence of Democritus' theory of atomism is reported by Aristotle (384–322 BCE) in his discussions of Democritus' and Plato 's contrasting views on
9045-555: The direct result of God's constant intervention, without which nothing could happen. Thus nature is completely dependent on God, which meshes with other Asharite Islamic ideas on causation, or the lack thereof (Gardet 2001). Al-Ghazali also used the theory to support his theory of occasionalism . In a sense, the Asharite theory of atomism has far more in common with Indian atomism than it does with Greek atomism. Other traditions in Islam rejected
9180-467: The duration that God allows. Latter Day Saint theology also expresses a form of dual-aspect monism via materialism and eternalism , claiming that creation was ex materia (as opposed to ex nihilo in conventional Christianity), as expressed by Parley Pratt and echoed in view by the movement's founder Joseph Smith , making no distinction between the spiritual and the material, these being not just similarly eternal, but ultimately two manifestations of
9315-633: The earliest forms of atomism; scholars date the Nyaya and Vaisesika texts from the 9th to 4th centuries BCE. Vaisesika atomists posited the four elemental atom types, but in Vaisesika physics atoms had 25 different possible qualities, divided between general extensive properties and specific (intensive) properties. The Nyaya–Vaisesika atomists had elaborate theories of how atoms combine. In Vaisesika atomism, atoms first combine into tryaṇuka s (triads) and dvyaṇuka (dyad) before they aggregate into bodies of
9450-488: The early Pythagoreans (before Ecphantus of Syracuse ). Unit-point atomism was invoked in order to make sense of a statement ascribed to Zeno of Elea in Plato's Parmenides : "these writings of mine were meant to protect the arguments of Parmenides against those who make fun of him. . . My answer is addressed to the partisans of the many. . ." The anti-Parmenidean pluralists were supposedly unit-point atomists whose philosophy
9585-522: The early Stoics is unclear. Some ancient sources state that pneuma was a combination of elemental fire and air (these two elements being "active"). But in Stoic writings pneuma behaves much like the active principle, and it seems they adopted pneuma as a straight swap for the creative fire. Monism Monism attributes oneness or singleness ( Greek : μόνος ) to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: There are two sorts of definitions for monism: Although
9720-424: The emergence of analytic philosophy in the early twentieth century, which revolted against the neo-Hegelians. Rudolf Carnap and A. J. Ayer , who were strong proponents of positivism , "ridiculed the whole question as incoherent mysticism ". The mind–body problem has reemerged in social psychology and related fields, with the interest in mind–body interaction and the rejection of Cartesian mind–body dualism in
9855-558: The error of dichotomizing conceptualization, as Nagarjuna does, is not to address the question of the relationship between samsara and nirvana -or, in more philosophical terms, between phenomenal and ultimate reality [...] What, then, is the relationship between these two realms? This question is answered in such schemata as the Five Ranks of Tozan , the Oxherding Pictures , and Hakuin's Four ways of knowing . Sikhism complies with
9990-412: The founders of modern chemistry. A chief theme in late Roman and Scholastic commentary on this concept was reconciling minima naturalia with the general Aristotelian principle of infinite divisibility . Commentators like John Philoponus and Thomas Aquinas reconciled these aspects of Aristotle's thought by distinguishing between mathematical and "natural" divisibility. With few exceptions, much of
10125-400: The human soul must possess absolute simplicity, its varying functions being conditioned by the degrees of its tension. There are no separate "parts" of the soul, as previous thinkers imagined. With this psychology is intimately connected the Stoic theory of knowledge . From the unity of soul it follows that all mental processes—sensation, assent, impulse—proceed from reason, the ruling part;
10260-469: The importance of the atomists in late Roman and medieval Europe, their work was still preserved and exposited through commentaries on the works of Aristotle. In the 2nd century, Galen (AD 129–216) presented extensive discussions of the Greek atomists, especially Epicurus, in his Aristotle commentaries. Ajivika is a " Nastika " school of thought whose metaphysics included a theory of atoms or atomism which
10395-405: The individual components maintain their own properties, and they can be separated again. The second type was a fusion, whereby a new substance is created leading to the loss of the properties of the individual components, this roughly corresponds to the modern concept of a chemical change. The third type was a commingling, or total blending: there is complete interpenetration of the components down to
10530-470: The infinitesimal, but each component maintains its own properties. In this third type of mixture a new substance is created, but since it still has the qualities of the two original substances, it is possible to extract them again. In the words of Chrysippus: "there is nothing to prevent one drop of wine from mixing with the whole ocean". Ancient critics often regarded this type of mixing as paradoxical since it apparently implied that each constituent substance be
10665-457: The latter is similar to or associated with eternalism ( sassatavada ). Within Buddhism, a rich variety of philosophical and pedagogical models can be found. Various schools of Buddhism discern levels of truth: The Prajnaparamita-sutras and Madhyamaka emphasize the non-duality of form and emptiness: "form is emptiness, emptiness is form", as the heart sutra says. In Chinese Buddhism this
10800-419: The life of the cosmos. The cosmos and all its parts are only different embodiments and stages in the change of primitive being which Heraclitus had called "a progress up and down". Out of it is separated elemental fire , the fire which we know, which burns and destroys; and this condenses into air ; a further step in the downward path produces water and earth from the solidification of air. At every stage
10935-507: The mark of the beast in Christian Europe. No thinker, unless it is Machiavelli, has been more maligned by misrepresentation. The possibility of a vacuum was accepted—or rejected—together with atoms and atomism, for the vacuum was part of that same theory. Democritus and Lucretius denied the impossibility of a vacuum, being of the opinion that there must be a vacuum between the discrete particles (atoms) of which, they thought, all matter
11070-482: The materialism label relates to a narrow 17th/18th-century conception of materialism whereby things must be "explained by the movements and combination of passive matter" ( Gourinat 2009 , p. 48). Since Stoicism is vitalistic it is "not materialism in the strict sense" ( Gourinat 2009 , p. 68). A second objection refers to a Stoic distinction between mere bodies (which extend in three dimensions and offer resistance), and material bodies which are "constituted by
11205-456: The meaning of "real". While the lack of information makes it difficult in some cases to be sure of the details, the following pre-Socratic philosophers thought in monistic terms: Pantheism is the belief that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent God, or that the universe (or nature ) is identical with divinity . Pantheists thus do or do not believe in a personal or anthropomorphic god, but believe that interpretations of
11340-506: The name "atom", long used by the atomist philosophy. Although the connection to historical atomism is at best tenuous, elementary particles have become a modern analogue of philosophical atoms. Philosophical atomism is a reductive argument, proposing not only that everything is composed of atoms and void, but that nothing they compose really exists: the only things that really exist are atoms ricocheting off each other mechanistically in an otherwise empty void . One proponent of this theory
11475-746: The natural order. In pursuing their physics the Stoics wanted to create a picture of the world which would be completely coherent. Stoic physics can be described in terms of (a) monism , (b) materialism , and (c) dynamism. Stoicism is a pantheistic philosophy. The cosmos is active, life-giving, rational and creative. It is a single cohesive unit, a self-supporting entity containing within it all that it needs, and all parts depending on mutual exchange with each other. Different parts of this unified structure are able to interact and have an affinity with each other ( sympatheia ). The Stoics explained everything from natural events to human conduct as manifestations of an all-pervading reason ( logos ). Thus they identified
11610-433: The one rational soul alone has sensations, assents to judgments, is impelled towards objects of desire just as much as it thinks or reasons. Not that all these powers at once reach full maturity. The soul at first is empty of content; in the embryo it has not developed beyond the nutritive principle of a plant; at birth the "ruling part" is a blank tablet , although ready prepared to receive writing. The source of knowledge
11745-408: The only things that exist and that all other things are merely said to exist by social convention . The objects humans see in everyday life are composed of many atoms united by random collisions and their forms and materials are determined by what kinds of atom make them up. Likewise, human perceptions are caused by atoms as well. Bitterness is caused by small, angular, jagged atoms passing across
11880-411: The people in what was possible in atoms and what was not possible in atoms. However, Epicurus expressed a non-aggressive attitude characterized by his statement: The man who best knows how to meet external threats makes into one family all the creatures he can; and those he can not, he at any rate does not treat as aliens; and where he finds even this impossible, he avoids all dealings, and, so far as
12015-573: The perceiving mind, that is, "secondary" qualities as distinguished from "primary" qualities. Galileo identified some basic problems with Aristotelian physics through his experiments. He utilized a theory of atomism as a partial replacement, but he was never unequivocally committed to it. For example, his experiments with falling bodies and inclined planes led him to the concepts of circular inertial motion and accelerating free-fall. The current Aristotelian theories of impetus and terrestrial motion were inadequate to explain these. While atomism did not explain
12150-480: The presence with one another of both [active and passive] principles, and by the effects of one principle on the other". The active and passive principles are bodies but not material bodies under this definition ( Cooper 2009 , p. 100). b. The concept of pneuma (as a "vital breath") was prominent in the Hellenistic medical schools. Its precise relationship to the "creative fire" ( pyr technikon ) of
12285-420: The present day complete. However, a massive number of fragments and quotations of his writings have survived. These are the main source of information on his teachings about atoms. Democritus's argument for the existence of atoms hinged on the idea that it is impossible to keep dividing matter infinitely - and that matter must therefore be made up of extremely tiny particles. The atomistic theory aimed to remove
12420-443: The primary substance, to be consumed in a general conflagration when once more the world will be absorbed in God. This ekpyrôsis is not so much a catastrophic event, but rather the period of the cosmic cycle when the preponderance of the fiery element once again reaches its maximum. All matter is consumed becoming completely fiery and wholly soul-like. God, at this point, can be regarded as completely existing in itself. In due order
12555-473: The receptacle of each other. However to the Stoics, the pneuma is like a force, a continuous field interpenetrating matter and spreading through all of space. Every character and property of a particular thing is determined solely by the tension in it of pneuma , and pneuma , though present in all things, varies indefinitely in quantity and intensity. A certain warmth, akin to the vital heat of organic being, seems to be found in inorganic nature: vapours from
12690-444: The relation between the active and the passive principles there was no clear difference. Although the Stoics talked about the active and passive as two separate types of body, it is likely they saw them as merely two aspects of the single material cosmos. Pneuma , from this perspective, is not a special substance intermingled with passive matter, but rather it could be said that the material world has pneumatic qualities. The diversity of
12825-624: The role of gods as exemplifying moral ideals.) In ancient Indian philosophy , preliminary instances of atomism are found in the works of Vedic sage Aruni , who lived in the 8th century BCE, especially his proposition that "particles too small to be seen mass together into the substances and objects of experience" known as kaṇa . Although kana refers to "particles" not atoms ( paramanu ). Some scholars such as Hermann Jacobi and Randall Collins have compared Aruni to Thales of Miletus in their scientific methodology, calling them both as "primitive physicists" or "proto-materialist thinkers". Later,
12960-421: The same in any portion of a homogeneous material). In the 5th century BC, Leucippus and his pupil Democritus proposed that all matter was composed of small indivisible particles which they called "atoms". Nothing whatsoever is known about Leucippus except that he was the teacher of Democritus. Democritus, by contrast, wrote prolifically, producing over eighty known treatises, none of which have survived to
13095-517: The same reality or substance. Parley Pratt implies a vitalism paired with evolutionary adaptation noting, "these eternal, self-existing elements possess in themselves certain inherent properties or attributes, in a greater or less degree; or, in other words, they possess intelligence, adapted to their several spheres." Parley Pratt's view is also similar to Gottfried Leibniz's monadology , which holds that "reality consists of mind atoms that are living centers of force." Brigham Young anticipates
13230-423: The sense of deism ) is a term describing beliefs coherently incorporating or mixing logically reconcilable elements of pantheism (that "God", or a metaphysically equivalent creator deity , is identical to Nature ) and classical deism (that the creator-god who designed the universe no longer exists in a status where it can be reached, and can instead be confirmed only by reason). It is therefore most particularly
13365-402: The sense organ, into the percipient's mind. The quality transmitted appears as a disturbance or impression upon the corporeal surface of that "thinking thing," the soul. In the example of sight , a conical pencil of rays diverges from the pupil of the eye , so that its base covers the object seen. A presentation is conveyed, by an air-current, from the sense organ, here the eye, to the mind, i.e.
13500-484: The soul's "ruling part." The presentation, besides attesting its own existence, gives further information of its object—such as colour or size. Zeno and Cleanthes compared this presentation to the impression which a seal bears upon wax , while Chrysippus determined it more vaguely as a hidden modification or mode of mind. But the mind is no mere passive recipient of impressions: the mind assents or dissents. The contents of experience are not all true or valid: hallucination
13635-426: The term monism is derived from Western philosophy to typify positions in the mind–body problem , it has also been used to typify religious traditions. In modern Hinduism, the term "absolute monism" has been applied to Advaita Vedanta , though Philip Renard points out that this may be a Western interpretation, bypassing the intuitive understanding of a nondual reality. It is more generally categorized by scholars as
13770-428: The term differ. Pantheism was popularized in the modern era as both a theology and philosophy based on the work of the 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza , whose Ethics was an answer to Descartes ' famous dualist theory that the body and spirit are separate. Spinoza held that the two are the same, and this monism is a fundamental quality of his philosophy. He was described as a "God-intoxicated man," and used
13905-425: The tongue; whereas sweetness is caused by larger, smoother, more rounded atoms passing across the tongue. Previously, Parmenides had denied the existence of motion, change and void. He believed all existence to be a single, all-encompassing and unchanging mass (a concept known as monism ), and that change and motion were mere illusions. He explicitly rejected sensory experience as the path to an understanding of
14040-416: The totality of all existence; out of it the whole of nature proceeds, eventually to be consumed by it. It is the creative force (God) which develops and shapes the universal order ( cosmos ). God is everything that exists. In the original state, the pneuma-God and the cosmos are absolutely identical; but even then tension, the essential attribute of matter, is at work. In the primitive pneuma there resides
14175-680: The types of indivisibles composing the natural world. According to some twentieth-century philosophers , unit-point atomism was the philosophy of the Pythagoreans , a conscious repudiation of Parmenides and the Eleatics . It stated that atoms were infinitesimally small ("point") yet possessed corporeality. It was a predecessor of Democritean atomism. Most recent students of presocratic philosophy , such as Kurt von Fritz , Walter Burkert , Gregory Vlastos , Jonathan Barnes , and Daniel W. Graham have rejected that any form of atomism can be applied to
14310-509: The universe and God with Zeus , as the ruler and upholder, and at the same time the law, of the universe. The Stoic God is not a transcendent omniscient being standing outside nature, but rather it is immanent —the divine element is immersed in nature itself. God orders the world for the good, and every element of the world contains a portion of the divine element that accounts for its behaviour. The reason of things—that which accounts for them—is not some external end to which they are tending; it
14445-452: The universe and instead used purely abstract reasoning. He believed there is no such thing as void, equating it with non-being. This in turn meant that motion is impossible, because there is no void to move into. Parmenides doesn't mention or explicitly deny the existence of the void, stating instead that what is not does not exist. He also wrote all that is must be an indivisible unity, for if it were manifold, then there would have to be
14580-400: The universe has a soul, and human rationality is the same as God's rationality. The pneuma that is soul pervades the entire human body. The soul is corporeal, else it would have no real existence, would be incapable of extension in three dimensions (i.e. to diffuse all over the body), incapable of holding the body together, herein presenting a sharp contrast to the Epicurean tenet that it
14715-410: The universe which is akin to its nature. It was a moot point whether all souls so survive, as Cleanthes thought, or the souls of the wise and good alone, which was the opinion of Chrysippus; in any case, sooner or later individual souls are merged in the soul of the universe, from which they originated. The Stoics explained perception as a transmission of the perceived quality of an object, by means of
14850-514: The universe with God, and the diversity of the world is explained through the transformations and products of God as the rational principle of the cosmos. Philosophers since the time of Plato had asked whether abstract qualities such as justice and wisdom , have an independent existence. Plato in his Sophist dialogue (245e–249d) had argued that since qualities such as virtue and vice cannot be 'touched', they must be something very different from ordinary bodies. The Stoics' answer to this dilemma
14985-533: The utmost heat and tension, within which there is a pressure , an expansive and dispersive tendency. Motion backwards and forwards once set up cools the glowing mass of fiery vapour and weakens the tension. Thus follows the first differentiation of primitive substance—the separation of force from matter, the emanation of the world from God. The seminal Logos which, in virtue of its tension, slumbered in pneuma , now proceeds upon its creative task. The cycle of its transformations and successive condensations constitutes
15120-522: The various and contrasting ideas that can be found in those texts. Within Vedanta, different schools exist: The colonisation of India by the British had a major impact on Hindu society. In response, leading Hindu intellectuals started to study western culture and philosophy, integrating several western notions into Hinduism. This modernised Hinduism, at its turn, has gained popularity in the west. A major role
15255-511: The various macroscopic substances in the world. Indian Buddhists , such as Dharmakirti ( fl. c. 6th or 7th century) and others, developed distinctive theories of atomism, for example, involving momentary (instantaneous) atoms ( kalapa s ) that flash in and out of existence. The particles of chemical matter for which chemists and other natural philosophers of the early 19th century found experimental evidence were thought to be indivisible, and therefore were given by John Dalton
15390-432: The void are eternal and in constant motion. Atomic collisions create objects, which are still composed of the same eternal atoms whose motion for a while is incorporated into the created entity. Lucretius also explains human sensations and meteorological phenomena in terms of atomic motion. In his epic poem On the Nature of Things , Lucretius depicts Epicurus as the hero who crushed the monster Religion through educating
15525-415: The void. The void is infinite and provides the space in which the atoms can pack or scatter differently. The different possible packings and scatterings within the void make up the shifting outlines and bulk of the objects that organisms feel, see, eat, hear, smell, and taste. While organisms may feel hot or cold, hot and cold actually have no real existence. They are simply sensations produced in organisms by
15660-723: The water." God and Soul are fundamentally the same; identical in the same way as Fire and its sparks. "Atam meh Ram, Ram meh Atam" which means "The Ultimate Eternal reality resides in the Soul and the Soul is contained in Him". As from one stream, millions of waves arise and yet the waves, made of water, again become water; in the same way all souls have sprung from the Universal Being and would blend again into it. Jewish thought considers God as separate from all physical, created things and as existing outside of time. According to Maimonides , God
15795-456: The word God to describe the unity of all substance. Although the term pantheism was not coined until after his death, Spinoza is regarded as its most celebrated advocate. H. P. Owen claimed that Pantheists are "monists" ... they believe that there is only one Being, and that all other forms of reality are either modes (or appearances) of it or identical with it. Pantheism is closely related to monism, as pantheists too believe all of reality
15930-428: The world as "One", which could not change in any way. Zeno of Elea defended this view of everything being a single entity through his paradoxes, which aim to show the existence of time, motion and space to be illusionary. Baruch Spinoza argued that 'God or Nature' ( Deus sive Natura ) is the only substance of the universe, which can be referred to as either ' God ' or ' Nature ' (the two being interchangeable). This
16065-496: The world is explained through the transformations and products of this eternal principle. Like Aristotle, the Stoics conceived of the cosmos as being finite with the Earth at the centre and the moon, sun, planets, and fixed stars surrounding it. Similarly, they rejected the possibility of any void (i.e. vacuum) within the cosmos since that would destroy the coherence of the universe and the sympathy of its parts. However, unlike Aristotle,
16200-414: Was an advocate of atomism in his 1612 Discourse on Floating Bodies (Redondi 1969). In The Assayer , Galileo offered a more complete physical system based on a corpuscular theory of matter, in which all phenomena—with the exception of sound—are produced by "matter in motion". Atomism was associated by its leading proponents with the idea that some of the apparent properties of objects are artifacts of
16335-410: Was created, although its creator framed it after an eternal, unchanging model. ( Animation ) ( Animation ) ( Animation ) ( Animation ) One part of that creation were the four simple bodies of fire, air, water, and earth . But Plato did not consider these corpuscles to be the most basic level of reality, for in his view they were made up of an unchanging level of reality, which
16470-501: Was essentially a reaction against the Eleatics. This hypothesis, however, to explain Zeno's paradoxes , has been thoroughly discredited. Plato ( c. 427 – c. 347 BCE) argued that atoms just crashing into other atoms could never produce the beauty and form of the world. In Plato's Timaeus (28b–29a) the character of Timeaus insisted that the cosmos was not eternal but
16605-414: Was in potential to a new actuality . A piece of wet clay, when acted upon by a potter, takes on its potential to be an actual drinking mug. Aristotle has often been criticized for rejecting atomism, but in ancient Greece the atomic theories of Democritus remained "pure speculations, incapable of being put to any experimental test". Aristotle theorized minima naturalia as the smallest parts into which
16740-519: Was in the Asharite school of Islamic theology , most notably in the work of the theologian al-Ghazali (1058–1111). In Asharite atomism, atoms are the only perpetual, material things in existence, and all else in the world is "accidental" meaning something that lasts for only an instant. Nothing accidental can be the cause of anything else, except perception, as it exists for a moment. Contingent events are not subject to natural physical causes, but are
16875-470: Was later adapted in the Vaiśeṣika school, which postulated that all objects in the physical universe are reducible to paramāṇu ( atoms ), and one's experiences are derived from the interplay of substance (a function of atoms, their number and their spatial arrangements), quality, activity, commonness, particularity and inherence. Everything was composed of atoms, qualities emerged from aggregates of atoms, but
17010-428: Was later also applied to the theory of absolute identity set forth by Hegel and Schelling . Thereafter the term was more broadly used, for any theory postulating a unifying principle. The opponent thesis of dualism also was broadened, to include pluralism. According to Urmson, as a result of this extended use, the term is "systematically ambiguous". According to Jonathan Schaffer , monism lost popularity due to
17145-433: Was mathematical. These simple bodies were geometric solids , the faces of which were, in turn, made up of triangles. The square faces of the cube were each made up of four isosceles right-angled triangles and the triangular faces of the tetrahedron, octahedron, and icosahedron were each made up of six right-angled triangles. Plato postulated the geometric structure of the simple bodies of the four elements as summarized in
17280-558: Was no serious work done with atomism from the time of Galen until Isaac Beeckman , Gassendi and Descartes resurrected it in the 17th century; "the gap between these two 'modern naturalists' and the ancient Atomists marked "the exile of the atom" and "it is universally admitted that the Middle Ages had abandoned Atomism, and virtually lost it." Although the ancient atomists' works were unavailable, scholastic thinkers gradually became aware of Aristotle's critiques of atomism as Averroes 's commentaries were translated into Latin . Although
17415-483: Was played in the 19th century by Swami Vivekananda in the revival of Hinduism , and the spread of Advaita Vedanta to the west via the Ramakrishna Mission . His interpretation of Advaita Vedanta has been called Neo-Vedanta . In Advaita, Shankara suggests meditation and Nirvikalpa Samadhi are means to gain knowledge of the already existing unity of Brahman and Atman , not the highest goal itself: [Y]oga
17550-402: Was superfluous as all events are foreordained, he replied that both divination and our behaviour under the warnings which it affords are included in the chain of causation. To fully characterize the physical world, the Stoics developed a theory of mixing in which they recognised three types of mixture. The first type was a purely mechanical mixture such as mixing barley and wheat grains together:
17685-433: Was the Greek philosopher Democritus . By convention sweet is sweet, by convention bitter is bitter, by convention hot is hot, by convention cold is cold, by convention color is color. But in reality there are atoms and the void. Atomism stands in contrast to a substance theory wherein a prime material continuum remains qualitatively invariant under division (for example, the ratio of the four classical elements would be
17820-452: Was the primitive substance God, the one supreme being, but divinity could be ascribed to the manifestations—to the heavenly bodies, to the forces of nature, even to deified persons; and thus the world was peopled with divine agencies. Prayer is of apparently little help in a rationally ordered cosmos, and surviving examples of Stoic prayers appear similar to self-meditation rather than appeals for divine intervention. The Stoics often identified
17955-431: Was thus fully materialistic; the answers to metaphysics are to be sought in physics; particularly the problem of the causes of things for which Plato's theory of forms and Aristotle 's " substantial form " had been put forth as solutions. A dualistic feature of the Stoic system are the two principles, the active and the passive : everything which exists is capable of acting and being acted upon. The active principle
18090-539: Was to assert that everything, including wisdom, justice, etc., are bodies. Plato had defined being as "that which has the power to act or be acted upon," and for the Stoics this meant that all action proceeds by bodily contact; every form of causation is reduced to the efficient cause, which implies the communication of motion from one body to another. Only Body exists. The Stoics did recognise the presence of incorporeal things such as void, place and time, but although real they could not exist and were said to "subsist". Stoicism
18225-470: Was understood to mean that ultimate reality is not a transcendental realm, but equal to the daily world of relative reality. This idea was well-situated for the existing Chinese culture, which emphasized the mundane world and society. But this does not tell how the absolute is present in the relative world: To deny the duality of samsara and nirvana, as the Perfection of Wisdom does, or to demonstrate logically
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