Скачать или смотреть Aristotle's Criticism of Democritus' Continuum (with Giovanna Giardina, University of Catania)

The Orange County Inland Empire (OCIE) Seminar series in History and Philosophy of Mathematics takes place at Chapman University as its main host, and is co-organized together with researchers from UC Riverside, CSU San Bernardino, and Pitzer College. It also occasionally integrates the Chapman University D.Sc. program in Math, Philosophy and Physics as its Graduate Colloquium.

The seminars are held in hybrid format on the Chapman University campus in the Keck Center, home of Schmid College of Science and Technology, or on Zoom. On October 27, 2023, Giovanna Giardina, Ph.D., presented her talk "Aristotle's Criticism of Democritus' Continuum."

ABSTRACT: In my presentation, I will focus on Democritus’ concept of the ‘continuum’ as investigated, interpreted, and criticised by one of its most authoritative sources, namely Aristotle. The reason for this choice is that Democritus played a pivotal role in the development of Aristotle’s continuum theory. My discussion will consist of four main points. First, I will demonstrate that the Presocratic philosophers had an intuitive understanding of the ‘continuum’, which they employed without providing a formal definition. Secondly, I will show that in De generatione et corruptione I 8, Aristotle simultaneously examines the Eleatics and Atomists because the similarities and differences he identifies in the theories of these philosophers are crucial for the formulation of his own theory of the continuum. Thirdly, I will elucidate why Democritus considered natural bodies and motion to be continuous. Fourthly, I will also highlight the mistakes Aristotle attributed to Democritus and present Aristotle’s solution.