Atomism

Atomism is the theory that all the objects in the universe are composed of very small, indestructible particles. The word atomism derives from the ancient Greek word atomos which means "that which cannot be cut into smaller pieces." http://www.bartleby.com/61/19/A0501900.html (This is the case for the Western theories of atomism. Buddhists also have well-developed theories of atomism, and which involve momentary, or non-eternal, atoms, that flash in and out of existence.http://www.abstractatom.com/buddhist_atomism_and_the_r_theory_of_time.htm)

Related Topics:
Indestructible - Greek

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If atomism is the idea that anything might ultimately consist of an aggregation of small units that cannot be sub-divided further, then "atomism" might be applied to even the aggregations of society or logic.

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Accordingly, the term social atomism is used to denote the point-of-view that individuals rather than social institutions and values are the proper subject of analysis since all properties of institutions and values merely accumulate from the strivings of individuals. http://ndpr.icaap.org/content/archives/2003/3/johansson-meggle.html

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Similarly, Bertrand Russell developed logical atomism in an attempt to identify the atoms of thought, the pieces of thought that cannot be divided into smaller pieces of thought.

Related Topics:
Bertrand Russell - ''logical atomism''

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The atoms that chemists and physicists of the early 1800s thought were indivisible turned out to be composed of even smaller entities—electrons, neutrons, and protons. Similarly, experiments showed that protons and neutrons are made of even smaller quarks. So, the trend of empirical evidence for ever-smaller particles inside "atoms" suggests the question: "Is matter infinitely divisible?" Experiment likely can never answer that question; who can say that the experimentalists and the theorists will not contrive some even more powerful means to smash what some previously had thought to be "indivisible" to find that it is composed of even smaller pieces of matter and energy?

Related Topics:
Atoms - Electrons - Neutrons - Protons - Quarks - Infinitely divisible

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How about space and time? In many mathematical descriptions, space and time are infinitely divisible. That is, for example, many classical descriptions of space assume that between any two points of space, there will be another point of space. But some current theorists suggest that even space and time are composed of measurable quanta that "cannot be cut into smaller pieces" to observe. http://meessen.free.fr/AMeessen/STQ/STQ.pdf http://www.meessen.net/AMeessen/

Related Topics:
Space

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