The concept of ‘void’ as a constituent element of matter in Epicurus’ Epistle to Herodotus
Abstract
This paper analyzes the Epicurean justification of the concept of ‘void’ (κενόν) in the compendium known as Epistle to Herodotus, preserved in the tenth book of Lives, Opinions and Sentences of the Most Illustrious Philosophers, by Diogenes Laertius (§ 35-86). For this purpose, we resort to a reading based on the correlation existing between the justification of the existence of ‘void’ (κενόν) and the Epicurean gnoseology (κανών) formulated in the same letter –in § 40 and § 38 respectively– taking into account the latest edition of Tiziano Dorandi, which attempts to differentiate between the version of Diogenes Laertius and Epicurusʼs ipsa verba. The proposed reading stresses the critical distancing of the Samian philosopher from the Aristotelian term ‘place’ (τόπος). It provides arguments for the interpretation of the Epicurean ‘void’ as a ‘constituent element’ of visible matter (σώματα), an idea similar though not identical to the notion of ‘complementarity’ defended by David Konstan.
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