I am intrigued, though probably inappropriately, by the article, and Democritus, and Democracy. Is Democracy named after Democritus, who gave us the concept of the atom?
And, is it true that Democritus supported democracy, but Plato and Aristotle did not support democracy?
Although I am fully aware that very little is know of his political and social philosophy, because very little of what he wrote has survived. I have come across a number of indications that Democritus was a champion of democracy, and none of this information has anything whatsoever to do with the fact that his name sounds so very much like democracy.
In one of the surviving fragments of Democritus, it is asserted that the best form of government is the democratic: "Poverty in a democracy is as much preferable to so-called prosperity in an autocracy as freedom is to slavery." I would say these words are clearly a vote for democracy.
Democritus is called "the laughing philosopher", and he was born in the maritime city of Abdera, in Thrace. Who knows, but maybe Spartacus read or knew some of the writings or ideas of his fellow Thracian.
So, is it the other way around, our view of the individual is based on our observations of the cosmos?
Or, is there something else. Such as, knowledge of the Universe was revealed to Adam. |
