Outline and discuss the views of the pluralists of the pre-soctratics period.
The pluralists were those who did not believe in only one underlying substance, but many and some of them were even infinite. Some important and famous pluralists were; Empedocles of Akragas, Anaxagoras and the Atomists.
Empedocles believes that change is real and that nothing comes out of nothing thus he believed Parmenides, in fact he stated that being is material and couldn’t become nothing or comes out of nothing. He also stated that matter is indestructible and eternal. Empedocles does not deny the possibility of change occurring around us. He argues that there are four fundamental eternal particles; fire particles, water particles, earth particles and air particles and these combined together can form anything which exists in our world and universe. All this happens with the concept of an active force. He believes that there are only two forces, Love (Harmony) and Hate (Discord).
Love is the force that brings together different particles, while Hate is the force that separates particles and our world, is half way between the primary sphere (Love) and the stage of total separation (hate).
With this strategy, Empedocles thought that he had explained change around us. Empedocles beleived in the Reincarnation of the souls of the animals and humans. For him, everything was on one spiritual plane and he urged for a vegetarian lifestyle.
The second pluralist is Anaxagoras. He still thinks that Parmenides was right in the fact that nothing comes out of nothing but he rejects the idea of there is no change. He even rejects the idea of Empedocles. Instead he says that all objects are composed of an infinite number of invisible and varying eternal particles which he refers to them as ‘seeds’. This means that “in everything there is a portion of everything” in order to account for change. He even gave some examples to state his argument; the grass becomes flesh when eaten by a cow because grass contains flesh particles and people are eating the grass when they are eating the flesh and so on. Anaxagoras is the first one of the pluralists to have introduced the concept of ‘Nous’ also known as Mind. While Empedocles made used of two physical forces to explain change, Anaxagoras argues that Nous is the principle that controls change. It is found in all living things, but is limited to work to its maximum by different bodies, stating that everyone has the same mind but it is just working differently than those of the others. He also attempted to give a scientific explenation to eclipses, rainbows and other universal phenomenon.
The Essay on Forces for Change
It is important for organizations to be open to change and know how to deal with it. Many organizations fail to recognize change causing the organization to suffer and sometimes come to an end. There are six forces that stimulate change in an organization, nature of the workforce, technology, economic shock, competition, social trends, and world politics. The consequences of these economic shocks ...
The Atomists were a group of people who argued that everything is made up of tiny particles which are called atoms. The first person to develop the atomist theory was Leucippus but we don’t know nothing about him and it is Democritus that showed us in order to understand the Atomists. The Atomists, like Empedocles and Anaxagoras, accepted the Parmenidean theory; but differed from Parmenides in that they argued that there are an infinite number of indivisible units, which they called atoms which cannot be divided or destroyed. Atoms are imperceptible and differ in size and shape. They move in the void and are separated by it. Democritus also argued that sensations, such as cold and warm, sweet and sour, are not objective feelings, but depend on the condition of the perceiver and the lack of it. Reality is simply composed of atoms and empty void, and the rest are simple human constructions.
