Epicureans, Earlier Atomists, and Cyrenaics

The Routledge Handbook of Hellenistic Philosophy provides accessible yet rigorous introductions to the theories of knowledge, ethics, and physics belonging to each of the three schools, explores the fascinating ways in which interschool rivalries shaped the philosophies of the era, and offers unique insight into the relevance of Hellenistic views to issues today, such as environmental ethics, consumerism, and bioethics. In particular, the theory developed by Leucippus (5th century BCE), Democritus (470/460–380 BCE), and later Epicurus (341–271/270 BCE) and his school is commonly defined as atomistic materialism. According to this theory, matter is the fundamental principle of existent and ever-evolving reality, and it is constituted of atoms. But whereas for the first atomists atoms were not so much a substance [ousia] as an ideal form [idea] through which they could explain sensible bodies and their movement, with Epicurus atoms effectively turned into a substance.1 From a mathematical theory2 we come to a physical conception.