2023-10-07 17:00:00
Food for thought.
He was a “tough” materialist, but also a man with humor and an infectious laugh. Democritus was different from many of his fellow philosophers – but by no means less profound.
He was born in 460 BC. BC in the extreme northeast of Greece. His family was wealthy, so he didn’t have to work and could travel around the world. Democritus studied astronomy with the Chaldeans, philosophy in India and Persia, and geometry with the Egyptians. “Among my contemporaries,” he described himself, “I am the one who has crossed most of the earth and conducted research into the strangest things.” You can already see from sentences like this: Democritus had a sense of humor. In contrast to many other philosophers, he was not a complainer and mopey, but rather a cheerful person. His loud laugh didn’t necessarily go down well in intellectual circles: “Democritus comes from Abdera, where idiots are born.” But the “common” people loved him.
In addition to his sense of humor, people also appreciated his “seeing” abilities. He once greeted Hippocrates’ girlfriend with “Hail, my girl!”, and the next day with “Hail, woman!” – and in the meantime the girl had actually lost her innocence. Democritus only had pity for joyless contemporaries, because for them “life is not a long life, but rather a long death.” He himself lived to a blessed age of over 90. Laughing keeps you young.
Democritus and his teacher Leucippus are the inventors of the so-called atomic theory. As a result, the world consists of an infinite number of tiny, no longer divisible particles, the atoms. They have been moving in empty space for ages, coming together again and again to form objects and living beings. However, these are also doomed again because atoms not only come together, but can also repel each other. In other words: Every thing, including humans, is the product of atoms that have come together, and it is doomed to destruction because these atoms will disperse again.
The question remains who decides when and how this all happens. It is not a creator god, says Democritus, because you would have to dig deeper and ask who created him. However, according to Democritus, it is not coincidence; it is “just an invention designed to cover up our ignorance.” Rather, the cause of the particle movements is a law inherent in beings, which – precisely because it is immanent – usually remains hidden from the observer.
The special thing about Democritus is that he gives tangible, material answers to ancient human questions. Why is the world so diverse? Because it consists of an infinite number of atoms that assemble according to an immanent law. Why is everything doomed? Because atoms not only come together, but also repel each other. And why isn’t everything ultimately doomed? Because it is not the atoms themselves that are lost, but only their constellations. Our world will later be followed by another world, which will then be replaced by another, and so on. In principle, it is possible that at some point the current world and with it us will rise again. Democritus’ materialism is not disillusioning, but rather offers comfort, even if one does not believe in God and eternal souls.
And it also helps us in everyday life. For anyone who wants to explain to their curious child why things are the way they are and how they come into being and disappear again will find Democritus’ theory of the coming together and repulsion of atoms to be heard more than religious or esoteric theories of transitory ones bodies, immortal souls and all-powerful gods. Because an atom can be explained by dividing an apple into smaller and smaller pieces. But explain to a six-year-old the immortality and invisibility of a human soul…
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