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atomism |
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atomism, philosophic concept of the nature of the universe, holding that the universe is composed of invisible, indestructible material particles. The theory was first advanced in the 5th cent. B.C. by Leucippus and was elaborated by Democritus. Epicurus restated the doctrine, giving the atoms weight. Atomism, nearly forgotten in later antiquity and the Middle Ages, was revived in the 17th cent. by Pierre Gassendi and was given consideration by Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, and John Locke. atomismPhilosophical doctrine that material objects are aggregates of simpler parts known as atoms. Atomism in the strict sense is characterized by three points: the atoms are absolutely indivisible, qualitatively identical apart from shape, size, and motion, and combinable with each other only by juxtaposition. Atomism is usually associated with realism and mechanism; it is mechanistic because it maintains that all observable changes can be reduced to changes in the configuration of the atoms that constitute matter. It is opposed to holism because it holds that the properties of any whole can be explained in terms of those of its parts. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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| Hylomorphism (theory of matter and form) and atomism (theory of atoms and accidents) have been the two main Islamic physical theories attempting to account for the structure of the world, the former defended by the philosophers (falasifah) and the other by the theologians (mutakallimun). As a result, the "voluntaristic metaethic fosters a destructive individualism and social atomism. Contrasting such a church with modern excesses of independence and atomism, Payne contended that in every aspect, the seventeenth-century confessions manifest a high churchmanship in the faith that is a necessary antecedent to both baptism and local covenant, in assertion of the Lordship of Christ, in requiring loyalty to the ordinances of the gospel, and in the search for communion and fellowship and unity with all people of faith, who together make up the universal church. |
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