Introduction to Empedocles

[@sztrife1]

this man used to be so creative and imaginative, how he imagined the world to work is so fantagious it's actually amazing and very noble, this man was really heroic in his way of seeing the world, it's pretty awesome how much he nailed by observation.

[@academyofideas]

It's very possible. There's a lot of debate regarding how influenced these early Ancient Greek thinkers were by the ideas coming from the surrounding cultures. There's a book called The Shape of Ancient Thought by Thomas Mcevilley which argues that they were heavily influenced.

[@TheRealValus]

Yes. I don't think you touched on it, but the Pyrrhonists, Skeptics, and/or Gymnosophists are a great example. Not just naked teachers, but teachers of the naked truth; most likely, yogis, brought over from India. Their teaching of ataraxia, the state of no-mind, arrived at through transcendence of opposites, is very eastern. And Empedocles' idea of the cycles reminds us of the Vedic (or Pre-Vedic) notions of the yugas.

[@Roman.Imperial.Artist]

@@TheRealValuscyclism of history is not exclusive to Vedics. In fact, most indo-European mythologies centred on this concept. As writing and idea of city was born independently in different regions, these idea easily could be too. Very “Eastern”, India is not even east of Asia

[@nonexistence5135]

The fact that this man, with so little knowledge about the natural world, was able to come to the conclusions that he did further affirms my stance that the way in which our universe functions is intuitive to the rational beings within it.

[@k.strive46]

YES

[@TheRealValus]

What about the masses, who never arrive at such close approximations? Even a broken clock produces an Empedocles, twice a day.

[@user-ec1xi9yt9y]

Exactly, intuition is a non linear phenomenon that transcends linearity and reason alone

[@christineshotton824]

@@TheRealValus I hate to put it this way, because it tends to create an impression I do not intend to convey, but most people are less than human. By this I mean that to be truly human means using the gifts of intelligence, rational thought, and reason. Those who do not do so have voluntarily given up their humanity and operate largely on the level of domesticated animals. Sadly, most people not only do not make use of these gifts, but openly mock those who do.

[@wospy1091]

Until you get to quantum physics

[@장현준장]

This is blowing my mind.

[@κόσσυφος]

Strife > Entropy ?! Eternal Cosmic Cycles > Oscillating Universe Theory ?! Great videos! Thank you.

[@austintexas9848]

strife kamia sxesi me entropy (??????)

[@beinghimself]

Nah strife is just repulsion. The reason why it statistically is the most probable result without variance is entropy, basically a probabilistic model for an infinitely big number of molecules that move randomly, with some properties like their potential of attraction and repulsion. Second law of thermodynamics explains why exactly, rather than gives a theory for how things work, just like ancient philosophers here

[@irisbunky]

Never knew much about Empedocles. What a brilliant and creative mind he had. Thanks for posting.

[@user-ec1xi9yt9y]

this man essentially discovered the law of entropy

[@yasiralghamdi8539]

It is like answering a questions by anther question's answer

[@farhanrafid8584]

No, Anaximander did

[@beinghimself]

Definitely did not. He gave a possible model for the universe. Entropy describes exactly why the world moves towards the state for which you need the most information to describe it, thus exactly why the attraction and repulsion happen, rather than actually just saying attraction and repulsion may be a possible start of the universe. At this stage, ancient philosophers could never give a why exactly, but just possible theoretical models

[@WildMen4444]

Hail Empedokles! May we all join you in the divine realm one day!

[@illwill2453]

So funny to think how long ago this was all thought up and yet how similar it is to how modern physics portrays the history and future of the uni/multiverse. The framework of thought is essentially the same, only the math has become much more complex.

[@yasiralghamdi8539]

To make it short the scientist is lagging us back to this myths. Philosophors, scientist and mob read this in the ancient books and connect it with modern knowledge by whatever they have to just

[@markdelgado6984]

Everything is based off ideas of the past. Just shows that there are still many uncovered truths to be found.

[@oleghrozman4172]

Empedocles is one of the most underrated philosophers. Peter Kingsley was right.

[@abelaajosephjoseph]

A very interesting talk, which I find most fascinating. Well done.

[@zunairarehman.4966]

Sir you are more then superb 🌸

[@rockstar15151]

Thankyou for these lectures. They are so easy to remember :)

[@cailynmerrill5273]

absolutely unreal how the presocratics discovered things we now know to be true about the world - physics, evolution, etc

[@jamesalvarez8733]

Although I cannot find the exact quote and reference, it was said in a review of the Mexican American war of 1846 that it would be portrayed as a Thermopylae, but would go down in history as a “Empedocles or herostratus” known for its crimes and folly’s on the United States part.

[@Dyslexic-Artist-Theory-on-Time]

Very interesting video! I like his idea of sphere, out of all the shapes the sphere has the greatest symmetry!

[@alessandrapinzano6997]

actually the idea of the sphere came from Parmenides

[@napoleon_bonaparte2462]

He leaped into Etna to prove that he was a god.

[@oleghrozman4172]

It was a myth made by his enemies. We don't know what was happen in real.

[@mrbeety]

Love the way Empedocles used subjective human language (love and strife) in the lack of any other terms and ended up describing natural laws like magnetic attraction/repulsion and/or gravity and even physical cosmology (Big Crunch similarities). Not to mention that the elemental particles that everything is made out of is the atomic theory in its raw and crude form. It's classical mechanics before Newton.

[@SheedaBihacC1]

he was so new age i love it

[@traceurGeorge]

Do you list any sources used in this video and others anywhere at all? So I could read from it myself and potentially cite them directly?

[@saleemisgod]

Creatures are designed ahead of time! I like that phrase a lot.It sums up Creationism elegantly.

[@123afish]

What is the name of the painting @13:08? With the oxen head?

[@christineshotton824]

I have always thought that the juxtaposition of the ancient "earth, air, water, and fire" was remarkably similar to the modern "solid, gas, liquid, and plasma". Although I'm not sure if there was an ancient analog to the Bose-Einstein Condensate. 😁

[@ir0n2541]

I thought the 4 stages are constantly occurring, for instance exhaling and inhaling would go through all 4 stages.

[@Silvertestrun]

Thank you!

[@markosiridzanski2181]

thats what we call nowadays dark energy and dark matter

[@scod9746]

i think somethings are LOST in translation, regarding his evolution theory. I do not think he meant it to sound as silly as it has been translated... by saying that "heads and limbs roamed the earth, and attached in different ways" he probably meant "features which we think belong to one animal, were found on different animals" instead of the mythical fable interpretation.

[@legonuts100]

well maybe he had to sound so simplifying, to make it understandable to people back then who were generally not acquainted with philosophy and still relied on tradition to explain the world. Also, he lived only a mere 100 years after the "invention" of philosophy, so he probably did not posses a lot of specific vocabulary to truly express what he meant, and just used the words he knew.

[@TheSefrew]

Brillant!Thanks!

[@Saaraayee]

Thank you so much. ❤

[@4c00h]

4:55 sounds like the story of the big bang and the low amount of entropy in the universe at the time, as the universe expands there is more entropy or more strife

[@beinghimself]

The logic behind entropy is that even molecules moving randomly by their energy will always, for infinitely big numbers, reach a fixed macrostate, for the distribution of possible outcomes has zero variance. That one outcome is the one with which there's the most number of microstates of organising the molecules, so basically needs the most amount of information to describe the state, and the more the molecules spread over more space and make their intrinsic energy result into more kinetic energy, the more you'd need more information to describe the system, that's why it happens like this. Empedocles just says things attract and repulse, and it started from attraction then big repulsion. But entropy describes even the reason for why these forces are the outcome that actualises itself, it's because by means of their properties, they have potential energy that is converted to kinetic energy, which increases the number of information needed to describe the system. Entropy is much more fundamental. Philosophers at this era were just trying to guess "possible theories" of the physics of the world without actually understanding why those theoretical models work that way in the first place. Sort of like saying oh ye things spread and attract but not exactly describing why. But just with that you can guess a possible model where the world is one lump that then spreads, and the harmonised ways of attraction between different molecules, result into our complex world, which is still a great model coming from this era. Wow Empedocles

[@Roman.Imperial.Artist]

@@beinghimselfyou are expecting too much from ancient philosophers. All the things you explained were discovered, because of information that they did not have access to. Yet, Empedocles through rationale and experience was first to describe a system that resembles popular among scientists. How would you explain it with the information he has?

[@beinghimself]

@@Roman.Imperial.Artist it’s just that people saying entropy is weird, like it’s highly specific. I understand people who say they predicted some version of a big bang theory, a universe dispersion, and an evolution theory, amazing. But entropy is like -as i said- more fundamental, very specific, and tackles the why itself (i don’t exactly remember what i said but i’m speaking by memory). But ye i agree with what u said anyways if that’s what u want

[@ultrafeel-tv]

The philosopher's competition is over: Give Empedocles the 1st prize!

[@justtiffanylouis]

Please explain and evaluate the views of empedocles?

[@EuphoricIntentions]

Thanks

[@noxusfinest4153]

Strife, we must secure the existence of our particles.

[@edmonix6457]

I feel like Epedocles had a dodgy dealer lacing his stuff every other week

[@neighbor472]

I always wondered if there was some influence from hallucinogens on some of the great philosphers of the past. Obviously not all of them but they seem to echo some ideas and discoveries that modern thinkers and scientists have come to (or perhaps the other way around) and credited to psychedelics.

[@benquinney2]

Who's your favorite philosopher?

[@emisillasilla1941]

Who is yours Ben

[@alshahriardihan1976]

John Cena

[@jacobh2147]

Socrates by far, he changed philosophy teaching and metaphysics also he made commoners be able to be philosophers directly impacted the hellenistic ages four schools and taught plato

[@debarghapaul866]

Did he foreshadow Christianity?

[@colonelweird]

Hold on here. If Empedocles was really a monist who didn't believe "becoming" was possible, why is his philosophy filled with so much change, so much becoming?

[@dodogonzaga]

For the concept of the fallen man, does it mean that this idea is not originated from the bible? Or maybe the bible "cited" this idea? For what I realized, Pythagoreans also embraced this idea.

[@dicktater2122]

Where love of the automobile reigns

[@dicktater2122]

Could a small lawsuit alter the course of history

[@innosanto]

Did he really talk about particles of animals? Wow

[@TheSteinmetzen]

Could Empedocles' "love' mean harmony or unity? It seems that would be a better concept for his positing.

[@thijsjong]

Is it possible Empedocles was influenced by hinduism. Not saying he could come up with this on his own. Cyclical nature of time.Reincarnation. Iternal struggle. Nirvana. Ideas also absorbed in monotheism. Original sin and the fall and expulsion from paradise. Fascenating man.

[@adamlees1720]

Wow, the start sounded like inflation theory!

[@christinarampai2400]

Empedocles was a contemporary of King David. He must had learned from the Israelite prophet(s)

[@gda295]

fallen creature view quite similar to Gen 6:1

[@geirtwo]

Empedocles theory of evolution isn't as far from the truth. In the cambrian period there where many odd and ridiculous creatures, but they died out and more sensible creatures replaced them.

[@Bella_Amour]

All this is exactly the same from Indigenous tribes in West Africa. The Dagara tribe from Burkina Faso is where Empedocles teachings came from. Along with the Dagara tribe. It’s funny to see all the indigenous West African philosophies masked into “Greek philosophies” LOL

[@SEmpedocles]

Let me explain lol

[@HorkPorkler]

Prove parmenides wrong....... Still waiting

[@jacobh2147]

Read platos parminedes

[@perspective500]

Yo WTF, those are hindu ideas. Maybe greeks and Indians were sharing ideas.

[@yasiralghamdi8539]

I like how today scientists are using data to revive myths that was refuted from antiquity. Useing data this way is like quoting Gospel to proof myself as the God. I can see jew's influence and believe in these ancient Greek

[@Silvertestrun]

Thank you!

[@Silvertestrun]

Thank you!