AMONG THE GREEKS 57 



forms ; fourth, that the natural cause of the pro- 

 duction of jjerfect forms was the extinction of 

 the imperfect. 



Democritus (450- b. c.) 



Democritus, the founder of the Atomistic phi- 

 losophy, the opponent of Design and proponent 

 of fortuity, chance, and law versus creative In- 

 tellect or Design, and the precursor of material- 

 ism, studied and compared the principal organs 

 of man and the lower animals. 



A recent writer^ on Democritus denies that the 

 doctrine of fortuity or chance can be attributed 

 to Democritus; he remarks: 



... As the atoms are eternal and uncaused, so is 

 motion ; it has its origin in a preceding motion, and 

 so on ad infinitum. For the Love and Hate of Em- 

 pedocles and the Nous (Intelligence) of Anaxago- 

 ras, Democritus substituted fixed and necessary laws 

 (not chance; that is a misrepresentation due chiefly 

 to Cicero) . Everything can be explained by a purely 

 mechanical (but not fortuitous) system, in which 

 there is no room for the idea of a providence or an in- 

 telligent cause working with a view to an end. . . . 



The system of Democritus was altogether anti- 

 theistic. But, although he rejected the notion of a 

 deity taking part in the creation or government of 



^Encyclopaedia Britannica, 13th edition, new form, 1926, vol. 8, 

 p. 4. Throughout this volume the Encyclopaedia Britannica refer- 

 ences are from the 13th edition, new form, 1926. 



