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Anaximenes of Miletus, and later Democritus of Abdera.
Anaxagoras says that the ether, which naturally moves upwards, is caught
in hollows below the earth and so shakes it, for though the earth is really all of
it equally porous, its surface is clogged up by rain. This implies that part of
the whole sphere is ‘above’ and part ‘below’: ‘above’ being the part on which
we live, ‘below’ the other.
This theory is perhaps too primitive to require refutation. It is absurd to
think of up and down otherwise than as meaning that heavy bodies move to
the earth from every quarter, and light ones, such as fire, away from it;
especially as we see that, as far as our knowledge of the earth goes, the
horizon always changes with a change in our position, which proves that the
earth is convex and spherical. It is absurd, too, to maintain that the earth rests
on the air because of its size, and then to say that impact upwards from below
shakes it right through. Besides he gives no account of the circumstances
attendant on earthquakes: for not every country or every season is subject to
them.
Democritus says that the earth is full of water and that when a quantity of
rain-water is added to this an earthquake is the result. The hollows in the earth
being unable to admit the excess of water it forces its way in and so causes an
earthquake. Or again, the earth as it dries draws the water from the fuller to
the emptier parts, and the inrush of the water as it changes its place causes the
earthquake.
Anaximenes says that the earth breaks up when it grows wet or dry, and
earthquakes are due to the fall of these masses as they break away. Hence
earthquakes take place in times of drought and again of heavy rain, since, as
we have explained, the earth grows dry in time of drought and breaks up,
whereas the rain makes it sodden and destroys its cohesion.
But if this were the case the earth ought to be found to be sinking in many
places. Again, why do earthquakes frequently occur in places which are not
excessively subject to drought or rain, as they ought to be on the theory?
Besides, on this view, earthquakes ought always to be getting fewer, and
should come to an end entirely some day: the notion of contraction by
packing together implies this. So this is impossible the theory must be
impossible too.
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Buch The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Titel
- The Complete Aristotle
- Autor
- Aristotle
- Datum
- ~322 B.C.
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- PD
- Abmessungen
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Seiten
- 2328
- Schlagwörter
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Kategorien
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156