Atomism in Philosophy

The nature of matter and the idea of indivisible parts has fascinated philosophers, historians, scientists and physicists from antiquity to the present day. This collection covers the richness of its history, starting with how the Ancient Greeks came to assume the existence of atoms and concluding with contemporary metaphysical debates about structure, time and reality. Focusing on important moments in the history of human thought when the debate about atomism was particularly flourishing and transformative for the scientific and philosophical spirit of the time, this collection covers: - The discovery of atomism in ancient philosophy - Ancient non-Western, Arabic and late Medieval thought - The Renaissance, when alongside the re-discovery of ancient thought, atomism as a doctrine of mind and matter was brandished by Leibniz and Spinoza - The history and philosophy of chemistry after Dalton - Logical atomism in early analytic philosophy, with Russell and Wittgenstein - Atomism in quantum physics. Featuring 35 previously unpublished essays, written especially for the collection by leading and younger scholars, this valuable collection reveals the development of one of philosophy's central doctrines across 2,000 years and within a broad range of philosophical traditions.