Page 48 - STOLEN LEGACY By George G. M. James

(ii) Arguments against Plurality and Space:

(a) If a measure of corn produces a sound, then each grain ought to produce a sound. (This
argument is taken from Simplicus: but ascribed to Zeno.)

(b) If Being exists in space, then space itself must exist in space, and the process will have to go
on ad infinitum. (This argument is also taken from Simplicus.)

(c) If magnitude exists, it must be infinitely great and infinitely small, at one and the same time,
since it has an infinitude of parts which are indivisible. Therefore the idea of the manifold is
contradictory. (William Turner's History of Philosophy p. 49–50). (Roger's Students' History of
Philosophy p. 31–32). (Zeller's History of Philosophy p. 63–64).

4. The Later Ionian School: (a) Heraclitus, (b) Anaxagoras, (c) Democritus

(a) Heraclitus

Believed to have been born B.C. 530, and to have died in 470 B.C. Heraclitus, a native of
Ephesus, in Asia Minor, has been credited with the following doctrines:

(i) The Doctrine of Universal Flux

There is no static Being, and no Unchanging element. Change is Lord of the Universe. The
underlying element of the universe is Fire, and all things are changed for Fire, and Fire for all
things.

(a) The change is not at random; but uniform, orderly and cyclic. Thus the heavenly Fires are
transmuted successively, into vapour, water and earth; only to go through a similar process as
they ascend again into Fire.

(b) It contains the elements both of the old and new, at any given moment in the process.
Consequently, where night ends, there day begins; where summer begins, there spring ends; and
where mortal life ends, there spiritual life begins.

(c) It also consists in the generation which results from the union of opposites (a doctrine, later to
be found in Plato and Socrates).
Hence we observe that the union of male and female produces organic life; and that sharp and
flat notes produce harmony.

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Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy by George G. M. James
The Journal of Pan African Studies 2009 eBook