atomist
Indivisible matter believer
An atomist holds that reality consists of indivisible particles—atoms—and the void between them.
The term refers historically to ancient Greek philosophers like Democritus and Epicurus who proposed this view.
More broadly, an atomist favors reductive explanations, breaking complex phenomena into fundamental units: He's an atomist about consciousness, believing it reduces to neural firings.
Ancient atomism's founder
- pre-SocraticGreek thought before dialectics
- EpicurusAthenian pleasure-seeking sage
- classical antiquityGreco-Roman historical period
- GreeceBalkan peninsula nation
Lucretius · Hellenistic · void · indivisibles · swerve · Roman · Epicureanism · ancient philosophy
Minute piece of matter
- subatomicSmaller than atoms
- quantumSmallest discrete unit
- electronNegative subatomic particle
- protonPositive nuclear particle
neutron · nucleus · quark · lepton · boson · fermion · fundamental · indivisible
Prioritizing goods over spirit
- mechanismMeans by which something operates
- reductionismExplaining wholes through parts
- naturalismWorldview excluding the supernatural
- determinismDoctrine of causal necessity
metaphysics · ontology · empiricism · void · necessity · chance · pluralism · causation
Doctrine of personal independence
- methodologyFormal procedural framework
- reductionismExplaining wholes through parts
- societyOrganized communal human existence
- aggregateCombined sum total
individual · holism · emergence · social theory · rational choice · microeconomics · agent · unit
Democritus
Ancient atomism's founder
- pre-SocraticGreek thought before dialectics
- EpicurusAthenian pleasure-seeking sage
- classical antiquityGreco-Roman historical period
Lucretius · Greece · Hellenistic · void · indivisibles · swerve · Roman · Epicureanism · ancient philosophy · cosmogony
particle
Minute piece of matter
proton · neutron · nucleus · quark · lepton · boson · fermion · fundamental · indivisible · discrete
materialism
Prioritizing goods over spirit
- mechanismMeans by which something operates
- reductionismExplaining wholes through parts
- naturalismWorldview excluding the supernatural
determinism · metaphysics · ontology · empiricism · void · necessity · chance · pluralism · causation · Boyle
individualism
Doctrine of personal independence
- methodologyFormal procedural framework
- reductionismExplaining wholes through parts
- societyOrganized communal human existence
aggregate · individual · holism · emergence · social theory · rational choice · microeconomics · agent · unit · component
- atomic bombFission-triggered mass destruction device
- atomic energyForce from split nuclei
- atomic structureInternal composition of atoms
- atomic powerEnergy from fission reactions
- atomic fusionNuclei merging into heavier elements
- atomic weaponBomb using nuclear reactions
atomic, atomize, atomism, atomization, atomistic, atomicity, atomists