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THE JAINA PHILOSOPHY and DEMOCRITUS It is difficult to disentangle them because they are generally mentioned together
Democritus who was a contemporary of Socrates and who flourished about 420 BC, took the final step towards the concept of atom, the indivisible smallest unit of matter His atom is eternal and indestructible but it has a finite size Thus the idea, of the elementary particle as the fundamental building block of the matter, was voiced for the first time in the history of western philosophy twenty three centunes ago 6
The atoms of Democritus were all of the same substance but had different sizes and shapes Each atom was eternally unchanging and in fact a Parmenidean one Each atom was impenetrable and indivisible because it contained no void Between atoms there was empty space or void through which they could move collide with each other and occupy different positions and may combine with each other sometimes But they had no other physical properties They had neither colour, nor smell nor taste The properties of matter which we perceive by our senses were supposed to be produced by the movements and positions of the atoms in space
Democritus is quoted to have said "A thing merely appears to have colour, it merely appears to be sweet or bitter Only atoms and empty space have a real existence”
The basic ideas of atomic theory were taken over and modified in part by the later Greek philosophers Epicurus (342-270 BC) followed Democritus in believing that the world consisted of atoms and void, but he did not believe, as Democritus did, that atoms were at all times completely controlled by natural laws
6
The Jain Theory of Paramāņu is more ancient See Chapter II
