Concept
Aether (classical element)
Overview
classical element in philosophy and cosmology symbolising universe
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
Empedocles, that they are fiery bodies arising from that fire which the aether embraced within itself, and did shatter in pieces when the elements were first separated one from another. Anaxagoras, that the circumambient aether is of a fiery substance, which, by a vehement force in its whirling about, did tear stones from the earth, and by its own power set them on fire, and establish them as stars in the heavens…
Plutarch, Complete Works of Plutarch — Volume 3
Names Aether several times; states what Aether is.
Of the fusile kinds the fairest and heaviest is gold; this is hardened by filtration through rock, and is of a bright yellow colour. A shoot of gold which is darker and denser than the rest is called adamant. Another kind is called copper, which is harder and yet lighter because the interstices are larger than in gold. There is mingled with it a fine and small portion of earth which comes out in the form of rust.
Plato, Timaeus
States what Aether is; the author is tied to Aether in the knowledge graph.
And if the pressure of the aether, or any subtiler matter than the air, may unite, and hold fast together, the parts of a particle of air, as well as other bodies, yet it cannot make bonds for ITSELF, and hold together the parts that make up every the least corpuscle of that MATERIA SUBTILIS. So that that hypothesis, how ingeniously soever explained, by showing that the parts of sensible bodies are held together by…
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1
Names Aether several times.
Philosophers who discussed Aether (classical element)
- Giordano Bruno
- David Hartley (philosopher)
- William of Conches
- Parmenides
- Aristotle
- Chrysippus
- Strato of Lampsacus
- Pherecydes of Syros
- Prodicus
- Critolaus
- Prima materia
- Antipater of Tyre
Related ideas
- Isaac Newton
- Robert Fludd
- On the Heavens
- Ancient Greek philosophy
- Luminiferous aether
- Ethiopia
- Dark energy
- Maxwell's equations
- Plato
- Greek mythology
- Ionian school (philosophy)
- Special relativity
- Soul
- James Clerk Maxwell
- Aristotle
- Universe
- Vacuum
- Wave
- Celestial spheres
- Plotinus
- Christiaan Huygens
- Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
- Robert Boyle
- Timaeus (dialogue)
Opposing perspectives
Place in the tradition
Part of Ancient Greek philosophy.
Explore Aether (classical element) in the interactive graph →