Empedocles
From Philosopedia
Empedocles]] (c. 495— 435 B.C.E.)
The first to state a principle that is now central to physics, Empedocles taught that everything is composed of four underived and indestructible roots: fire, water, earth, and air. The atmosphere, not a mere void, actually has a corporeal substance.
“In the absence of the void or empty space he explained motion as the interpenetration of particles, under the alternating action of two forces, harmony and discord,” explains the Columbia Encyclopedia.
He explicitly denied anthropomorphic deity:
- None of the gods has formed the world, nor has any man; it has always been.
Further, states J. M. Robertson, he threw out “a certain glimmer of the Darwinian conception - perhaps more clearly attained by Anaximandros - that adaptations prevail in nature just because the adaptations fit organisms to survive, and the non-adapted perish.”
