Saturday, November 14, 2009

Democritus's Steady State Vs. Plato's Big Bang



There is not much new in cosmology as far as I can tell.

"... so far as time is concerned we see that all with one exception are in agreement in saying that it is uncreated: in fact, it is just this that enables Democritus to show that all things cannot have had a becoming: for time, he says, is uncreated. Plato alone asserts the creation of time, saying that it had a becoming together with the universe, the universe according to him having had a becoming." -- Aristotle, Physics, Book VIII, 350 B.C.

Plato's response is customary for Big Bangers:

"And Aristoxenus, in his Historic Commentaries, says that Plato wished to burn all the writings of Democritus that he was able to collect; but that Amyclas and Cleinias, the Pythagoreans, prevented him, as it would do no good; for that copies of his books were already in many hands. And it is plain that that was the case; for Plato, who mentions nearly all the ancient philosophers, nowhere speaks of Democritus; not even in those passages where he has occasion to contradict his theories, evidently, because he said that if he did, he would be showing his disagreement with the best of all philosophers...." -- Diogenes Laertius, historian, 3rd century

6 comments:

  1. Why does someone wish to censor something?
    It is not because it is a lie as that is useful to impugn all that s/he says.
    It is because it is a truth!

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  2. OIM,

    You wrote: There is not much new in cosmology as far as I can tell.

    Pitty you for your ignorance of cosmology, oops, astronomy.

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  3. OIM,

    It appears that you need a serious study of astronomy, modern astronomy, and a bit of string theory would help, especially on music of spheres...

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. OIM,

    You stated: String theory is ancient.

    Then, it should be part of your belief system. Why haven't you posted anything on it recently?

    By the way, atoms are such a lowly creatures in string theory...

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