| Title | All Voids Large and Small, Being a Discussion of Place and Void in Strato of Lampsacus's Matter Theory |
| Type | Article |
| Language | English |
| Date | 1999 |
| Journal | Apeiron. A journal for ancient philosophy and science |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1–36 |
| Categories | no categories |
| Author(s) | Lehoux, Daryn |
| Editor(s) | |
| Translator(s) |
| Strato of Lampsacus, third head of Aristotle's school at Athens, who was known as 'the Physicist' in antiquity, is a problematic character. Like many other Greek philosophers, none of his books have survived to the present day. There are, to be sure, a few quotes scattered here and there in the philosophical and technical literature of antiquity, but these serve to give us only a flavor of his thinking and his physical theories, from which several reconstructions have been attempted in the last century. Based on this handful of fragments, Hermann Diels published an argument in 1893 which claimed to have fleshed out Strato's physical theory of matter and tried to show that 'the Physicist' held that all matter was interspersed with small pockets of void (similar to the way a sponge is full of little pockets of air), and that if a larger void than these natural minute 'microvoids' was artificially produced, then the surrounding contiguous matter would rush in to fill the gap. This theory would explain suction splendidly, and Diels argued that Erasistratus the physician and Hero of Alexandria had both used Strato's matter theory in their own works. Indeed, Diels even showed (a conclusion unchallenged to this day) that part of Hero's introduction to the Pneumatics was taken almost verbatim from a book by Strato. In his collection of Strato's fragments, Fritz Wehrli more or less followed Diels, and H.B. Gottschalk took Diels's argument even further, presenting almost the whole of Hero's introduction as a fragment of Strato. Since then, however, a number of writers have contested different parts of Diels's reconstruction. In 1985, David Furley argued that, while the microvoid theory seems plausible enough, we cannot attribute to Strato the theory of horror vacui. And in a recent paper, Sylvia Berryman rejected the idea that we can demonstrate that Erasistratus held a matter theory involving either microvoids or the theoretical prohibition of larger extended voids. Berryman's argument hinges on a careful distinction between the idea of the horror vacui as an explanation for why matter rushes in to fill the void, and the simple observation that matter does simply fill the space being emptied by suction. That is: when a Greek writer refers to the "following-in to what-is-being-emptied," is he referring to some theoretical mechanism by which void spaces are filled (i.e., what has been called the horror vacui), or is he simply saying that when we empty a vessel of one substance, some other substance always follows in to fill the space being emptied? To draw an analogy: in answer to the question "Why does a dropped ball hit the ground?" is the Greek τὸ πρὸς τὸ κενουμένου ἀκολουθεῖν analogous to the answer (a) "because of gravity" (implying a theory about the forces acting on matter) or (b) "because it falls" (implying only an observation that this always happens when you drop something)? Berryman thinks that Erasistratus used the "following-in to what-is-being-emptied" in this latter sense, that is, as an explanandum rather than as an explanans. Another problem, related to this question of voids, revolves around Strato's theory of 'place' (τόπος). The two writers (Simplicius and Stobaeus) who tell us of Strato's definition of place do not agree with each other, and one of them (Simplicius) may even seem at first to be self-contradictory. Through an analysis of the extant testimonia, I shall attempt to establish Strato's theory of place, ultimately favoring Simplicius's account over that of Stobaeus. The arguments and issues involved, however, will take us through a wide variety of the possible sources for Strato and an analysis of their ideas and objectives in providing their evidence. I argue, contra Furley and Berryman, that there is good reason to suppose that Strato held a theory of horror vacui qua explanans, possibly having borrowed it from some earlier source, and that he did in fact create the microvoid theory. These separate strands tie together into a coherent system that is attributable to Strato based on evidence that is sometimes direct and sometimes circumstantial. Thus, Strato will be seen to be breaking away (to a certain extent) from a strictly Aristotelian position, perhaps following Theophrastus's lead. While much of this work is directed at doubts about Strato's theory expressed by Furley and Berryman, I do not wish to overemphasize the amount of certainty we can attain when looking at Strato. We cannot ascertain beyond doubt that the theory I present here is in fact Strato's. But I think the evidence points fairly clearly at Strato as the originator of a physical theory which incorporates both microvoids and horror vacui, and which was adopted into medicine by Erasistratus and into mechanics by Philo or possibly Ctesibius. [introduction p. 1-3] |
| Online Resources | https://uni-koeln.sciebo.de/s/uZqo1P8OJqOJxd5 |
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Like many other Greek philosophers, none of his books have survived to the present day. There are, to be sure, a few quotes scattered here and there in the philosophical and technical literature of antiquity, but these serve to give us only a flavor of his thinking and his physical theories, from which several reconstructions have been attempted in the last century. Based on this handful of fragments, Hermann Diels published an argument in 1893 which claimed to have fleshed out Strato's physical theory of matter and tried to show that 'the Physicist' held that all matter was interspersed with small pockets of void (similar to the way a sponge is full of little pockets of air), and that if a larger void than these natural minute 'microvoids' was artificially produced, then the surrounding contiguous matter would rush in to fill the gap. This theory would explain suction splendidly, and Diels argued that Erasistratus the physician and Hero of Alexandria had both used Strato's matter theory in their own works. Indeed, Diels even showed (a conclusion unchallenged to this day) that part of Hero's introduction to the Pneumatics was taken almost verbatim from a book by Strato.\r\n\r\nIn his collection of Strato's fragments, Fritz Wehrli more or less followed Diels, and H.B. Gottschalk took Diels's argument even further, presenting almost the whole of Hero's introduction as a fragment of Strato. Since then, however, a number of writers have contested different parts of Diels's reconstruction. In 1985, David Furley argued that, while the microvoid theory seems plausible enough, we cannot attribute to Strato the theory of horror vacui. And in a recent paper, Sylvia Berryman rejected the idea that we can demonstrate that Erasistratus held a matter theory involving either microvoids or the theoretical prohibition of larger extended voids.\r\n\r\nBerryman's argument hinges on a careful distinction between the idea of the horror vacui as an explanation for why matter rushes in to fill the void, and the simple observation that matter does simply fill the space being emptied by suction. That is: when a Greek writer refers to the \"following-in to what-is-being-emptied,\" is he referring to some theoretical mechanism by which void spaces are filled (i.e., what has been called the horror vacui), or is he simply saying that when we empty a vessel of one substance, some other substance always follows in to fill the space being emptied? To draw an analogy: in answer to the question \"Why does a dropped ball hit the ground?\" is the Greek \u03c4\u1f78 \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03ba\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5 \u1f00\u03ba\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5\u03b8\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd analogous to the answer (a) \"because of gravity\" (implying a theory about the forces acting on matter) or (b) \"because it falls\" (implying only an observation that this always happens when you drop something)? Berryman thinks that Erasistratus used the \"following-in to what-is-being-emptied\" in this latter sense, that is, as an explanandum rather than as an explanans.\r\n\r\nAnother problem, related to this question of voids, revolves around Strato's theory of 'place' (\u03c4\u03cc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2). The two writers (Simplicius and Stobaeus) who tell us of Strato's definition of place do not agree with each other, and one of them (Simplicius) may even seem at first to be self-contradictory. Through an analysis of the extant testimonia, I shall attempt to establish Strato's theory of place, ultimately favoring Simplicius's account over that of Stobaeus. The arguments and issues involved, however, will take us through a wide variety of the possible sources for Strato and an analysis of their ideas and objectives in providing their evidence. I argue, contra Furley and Berryman, that there is good reason to suppose that Strato held a theory of horror vacui qua explanans, possibly having borrowed it from some earlier source, and that he did in fact create the microvoid theory. These separate strands tie together into a coherent system that is attributable to Strato based on evidence that is sometimes direct and sometimes circumstantial. Thus, Strato will be seen to be breaking away (to a certain extent) from a strictly Aristotelian position, perhaps following Theophrastus's lead.\r\n\r\nWhile much of this work is directed at doubts about Strato's theory expressed by Furley and Berryman, I do not wish to overemphasize the amount of certainty we can attain when looking at Strato. We cannot ascertain beyond doubt that the theory I present here is in fact Strato's. But I think the evidence points fairly clearly at Strato as the originator of a physical theory which incorporates both microvoids and horror vacui, and which was adopted into medicine by Erasistratus and into mechanics by Philo or possibly Ctesibius. [introduction p. 1-3]","btype":3,"date":"1999","language":"English","online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/uZqo1P8OJqOJxd5","doi_url":null,"categories":[],"authors":[{"id":244,"full_name":"Lehoux, Daryn","role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"}}],"book":null,"booksection":null,"article":{"id":1118,"journal_id":null,"journal_name":"Apeiron. A journal for ancient philosophy and science","volume":"32","issue":"1","pages":"1\u201336"}},"sort":[1999]}
| Title | All Voids Large and Small, Being a Discussion of Place and Void in Strato of Lampsacus's Matter Theory |
| Type | Article |
| Language | English |
| Date | 1999 |
| Journal | Apeiron. A journal for ancient philosophy and science |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1–36 |
| Categories | no categories |
| Author(s) | Lehoux, Daryn |
| Editor(s) | |
| Translator(s) |
Strato of Lampsacus, third head of Aristotle's school at Athens, who was known as 'the Physicist' in antiquity, is a problematic character. Like many other Greek philosophers, none of his books have survived to the present day. There are, to be sure, a few quotes scattered here and there in the philosophical and technical literature of antiquity, but these serve to give us only a flavor of his thinking and his physical theories, from which several reconstructions have been attempted in the last century. Based on this handful of fragments, Hermann Diels published an argument in 1893 which claimed to have fleshed out Strato's physical theory of matter and tried to show that 'the Physicist' held that all matter was interspersed with small pockets of void (similar to the way a sponge is full of little pockets of air), and that if a larger void than these natural minute 'microvoids' was artificially produced, then the surrounding contiguous matter would rush in to fill the gap. This theory would explain suction splendidly, and Diels argued that Erasistratus the physician and Hero of Alexandria had both used Strato's matter theory in their own works. Indeed, Diels even showed (a conclusion unchallenged to this day) that part of Hero's introduction to the Pneumatics was taken almost verbatim from a book by Strato. In his collection of Strato's fragments, Fritz Wehrli more or less followed Diels, and H.B. Gottschalk took Diels's argument even further, presenting almost the whole of Hero's introduction as a fragment of Strato. Since then, however, a number of writers have contested different parts of Diels's reconstruction. In 1985, David Furley argued that, while the microvoid theory seems plausible enough, we cannot attribute to Strato the theory of horror vacui. And in a recent paper, Sylvia Berryman rejected the idea that we can demonstrate that Erasistratus held a matter theory involving either microvoids or the theoretical prohibition of larger extended voids. Berryman's argument hinges on a careful distinction between the idea of the horror vacui as an explanation for why matter rushes in to fill the void, and the simple observation that matter does simply fill the space being emptied by suction. That is: when a Greek writer refers to the "following-in to what-is-being-emptied," is he referring to some theoretical mechanism by which void spaces are filled (i.e., what has been called the horror vacui), or is he simply saying that when we empty a vessel of one substance, some other substance always follows in to fill the space being emptied? To draw an analogy: in answer to the question "Why does a dropped ball hit the ground?" is the Greek τὸ πρὸς τὸ κενουμένου ἀκολουθεῖν analogous to the answer (a) "because of gravity" (implying a theory about the forces acting on matter) or (b) "because it falls" (implying only an observation that this always happens when you drop something)? Berryman thinks that Erasistratus used the "following-in to what-is-being-emptied" in this latter sense, that is, as an explanandum rather than as an explanans. Another problem, related to this question of voids, revolves around Strato's theory of 'place' (τόπος). The two writers (Simplicius and Stobaeus) who tell us of Strato's definition of place do not agree with each other, and one of them (Simplicius) may even seem at first to be self-contradictory. Through an analysis of the extant testimonia, I shall attempt to establish Strato's theory of place, ultimately favoring Simplicius's account over that of Stobaeus. The arguments and issues involved, however, will take us through a wide variety of the possible sources for Strato and an analysis of their ideas and objectives in providing their evidence. I argue, contra Furley and Berryman, that there is good reason to suppose that Strato held a theory of horror vacui qua explanans, possibly having borrowed it from some earlier source, and that he did in fact create the microvoid theory. These separate strands tie together into a coherent system that is attributable to Strato based on evidence that is sometimes direct and sometimes circumstantial. Thus, Strato will be seen to be breaking away (to a certain extent) from a strictly Aristotelian position, perhaps following Theophrastus's lead. While much of this work is directed at doubts about Strato's theory expressed by Furley and Berryman, I do not wish to overemphasize the amount of certainty we can attain when looking at Strato. We cannot ascertain beyond doubt that the theory I present here is in fact Strato's. But I think the evidence points fairly clearly at Strato as the originator of a physical theory which incorporates both microvoids and horror vacui, and which was adopted into medicine by Erasistratus and into mechanics by Philo or possibly Ctesibius. [introduction p. 1-3] |
| Online Resources | https://uni-koeln.sciebo.de/s/uZqo1P8OJqOJxd5 |
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Like many other Greek philosophers, none of his books have survived to the present day. There are, to be sure, a few quotes scattered here and there in the philosophical and technical literature of antiquity, but these serve to give us only a flavor of his thinking and his physical theories, from which several reconstructions have been attempted in the last century. Based on this handful of fragments, Hermann Diels published an argument in 1893 which claimed to have fleshed out Strato's physical theory of matter and tried to show that 'the Physicist' held that all matter was interspersed with small pockets of void (similar to the way a sponge is full of little pockets of air), and that if a larger void than these natural minute 'microvoids' was artificially produced, then the surrounding contiguous matter would rush in to fill the gap. This theory would explain suction splendidly, and Diels argued that Erasistratus the physician and Hero of Alexandria had both used Strato's matter theory in their own works. Indeed, Diels even showed (a conclusion unchallenged to this day) that part of Hero's introduction to the Pneumatics was taken almost verbatim from a book by Strato.\r\n\r\nIn his collection of Strato's fragments, Fritz Wehrli more or less followed Diels, and H.B. Gottschalk took Diels's argument even further, presenting almost the whole of Hero's introduction as a fragment of Strato. Since then, however, a number of writers have contested different parts of Diels's reconstruction. In 1985, David Furley argued that, while the microvoid theory seems plausible enough, we cannot attribute to Strato the theory of horror vacui. And in a recent paper, Sylvia Berryman rejected the idea that we can demonstrate that Erasistratus held a matter theory involving either microvoids or the theoretical prohibition of larger extended voids.\r\n\r\nBerryman's argument hinges on a careful distinction between the idea of the horror vacui as an explanation for why matter rushes in to fill the void, and the simple observation that matter does simply fill the space being emptied by suction. That is: when a Greek writer refers to the \"following-in to what-is-being-emptied,\" is he referring to some theoretical mechanism by which void spaces are filled (i.e., what has been called the horror vacui), or is he simply saying that when we empty a vessel of one substance, some other substance always follows in to fill the space being emptied? To draw an analogy: in answer to the question \"Why does a dropped ball hit the ground?\" is the Greek \u03c4\u1f78 \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03ba\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5 \u1f00\u03ba\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5\u03b8\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd analogous to the answer (a) \"because of gravity\" (implying a theory about the forces acting on matter) or (b) \"because it falls\" (implying only an observation that this always happens when you drop something)? Berryman thinks that Erasistratus used the \"following-in to what-is-being-emptied\" in this latter sense, that is, as an explanandum rather than as an explanans.\r\n\r\nAnother problem, related to this question of voids, revolves around Strato's theory of 'place' (\u03c4\u03cc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2). The two writers (Simplicius and Stobaeus) who tell us of Strato's definition of place do not agree with each other, and one of them (Simplicius) may even seem at first to be self-contradictory. Through an analysis of the extant testimonia, I shall attempt to establish Strato's theory of place, ultimately favoring Simplicius's account over that of Stobaeus. The arguments and issues involved, however, will take us through a wide variety of the possible sources for Strato and an analysis of their ideas and objectives in providing their evidence. I argue, contra Furley and Berryman, that there is good reason to suppose that Strato held a theory of horror vacui qua explanans, possibly having borrowed it from some earlier source, and that he did in fact create the microvoid theory. These separate strands tie together into a coherent system that is attributable to Strato based on evidence that is sometimes direct and sometimes circumstantial. Thus, Strato will be seen to be breaking away (to a certain extent) from a strictly Aristotelian position, perhaps following Theophrastus's lead.\r\n\r\nWhile much of this work is directed at doubts about Strato's theory expressed by Furley and Berryman, I do not wish to overemphasize the amount of certainty we can attain when looking at Strato. We cannot ascertain beyond doubt that the theory I present here is in fact Strato's. But I think the evidence points fairly clearly at Strato as the originator of a physical theory which incorporates both microvoids and horror vacui, and which was adopted into medicine by Erasistratus and into mechanics by Philo or possibly Ctesibius. 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