ATOMISM • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Atomism

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Atomism

noun

(psychology) a theory that reduces all mental phenomena to simple elements (sensations and feelings) that form complex ideas by association.

(chemistry) any theory in which all matter is composed of tiny discrete finite indivisible indestructible particles. Synonyms: atomic theory, atomist theory, atomistic theory.

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Etymology of 'Atomism'

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"Atomism" Quotes from Famous Books

... he summed up his view of nature in the words: "Everything flows"; of Empedocles, who found his explanation of the world in the combination of the four elements, since become traditional, earth, water, fire, and air; of Democritus, who developed a materialistic atomism which reminds one strongly of the doctrine of atoms as it has appeared in modern science; of Anaxagoras, who traced the system of things to the setting in order of an infinite multiplicity of different elements,—"seeds of things,"—which setting in order was due to the activity ...

— An Introduction to Philosophy • George Stuart Fullerton

... But atomism has not been by any means universally regarded as the most satisfactory conception of the relation between space and matter. Not only does it require two kinds of being, with the different attributes of extension ...

— The Approach to Philosophy • Ralph Barton Perry

... This is the first stage of reflection. The world exists for it as an innumerable congeries of things, each one independent of the other, and possessing self-existence. It is the stand-point from which atomism would be adopted as the philosophic system. Ask it what the ultimate principle of existence is, and ...

— Pedagogics as a System • Karl Rosenkranz

Words linked to "Atomism" : scientific theory, atomistic theory, atomic theory, chemical science, holism, atomistical, psychology, chemistry, atomist theory, psychological science, theory, atomistic