Empedocles
5th century BC Greek philosopher
Empedocles [3] was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher who lived in Agrigentum, a Greek colony in Sicily.
Empedocles | |
|---|---|
 Empedocles, 17th-century engraving | |
| Born | c. 490 BC |
| Died | c. 430 BC (aged around 60) Mount Etna, Sicily |
| Era | Pre-Socratic philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Pluralist school |
Main interests | Cosmogenesis, ontology, epistemology |
Notable ideas | All matter is made up of four elements: water, earth, air and fire The cosmic principles of Philotes ("Love") and Neikos ("Repulsion")[1] Theories about respiration[2] |
Influences | |
Influenced | |
Empedocles' philosophy is best known for being the origin of the cosmogenic theory of the four classical elements in the Western world. He also proposed powers called Love and Strife which would act as forces to bring about the mixture and separation of the elements.
Influenced by the Pythagoreans, he supported the doctrine of reincarnation. Empedocles was perhaps the last Greek philosopher to record his ideas in verse. Some of his work still survives today, more so than in the case of any other Presocratic philosopher. Empedocles' death was mythologized by ancient writers, and has been the subject of a number of literary treatments.
References
change- ↑ Frank Reynolds, David Tracy (eds.), Myth and Philosophy, SUNY Press, 1990, p. 99.
- ↑ Frag. B100 (Aristotle, On Respiration, 473b1–474a6)
- ↑ Greek: Ἐμπεδοκλῆς, ca. 490–430 BC