The Philosophy of Poetry by Henri Bergson

Author:Henri Bergson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497675667
Publisher: Philosophical Library/Open Road

The Physics of Lucretius

From his theory of the atom Lucretius extracted a great number of scientific conclusions. In his poem the role of science is just as important as the role of philosophy, but here his explanations are often ridiculous.

Lucretius’ shortcomings in the field of physics stem from several sources. To begin with, the poet failed to free his mind completely from the influence of mythological notions. It is pointless for him to state that the gods do not interfere in the world, that all beings are made up of atoms, and that all phenomena are movements of atoms; occasionally, and without realizing it, he sets forth the pagan notion that nature is animate and personal. He would of course condemn a theory which suggests that the earth is an animate being; yet we can not fail to note that he repeatedly compares the earth to the human body. It produces fully developed beings just as a mother produces children; it is first covered with grass just as the body is covered with hair (V, 788); its salty sweat fills the basins of the seas (V, 487). Those are not mere metaphors or poetic images; Lucretius gives no other explanation of the birth of living beings, the growth of grass, or the creation of salt water. As a matter of fact, we never completely rid ourselves of the ideas that surround us and condition our lives. Our language reflects our surroundings; we are unwittingly influenced by our conversations, by our reading, and by even the imaginary conversations which we engage in whenever we think in silence.

Note that Lucretius’ mistakes in physics are often attributable to Epicurus. Scholars have succeeded in deciphering some fragments of an almost completely decomposed papyrus found in the ruins of Herculaneum. The papyrus contains one of Epicurus’ books on physics; it is obvious that Lucretius followed his model very closely. Epicurus paid little attention to the science of physics; he was always ready to adopt the first explanation offered so long as it did not involve the supernatural. In astronomy especially the philosopher showed his utter contempt for pure science. According to him, the sun is approximately as large as it looks; celestial phenomena can be explained in a number of ways, and one explanation is just as good as the next; the moon may have its own light or it may borrow light from the sun; the stars seem to rise and set because they are lighted and extinguished daily. Epicurus’ ignorance or indifference is all the more surprising in view of the fact that the Greek astronomers had in numerous instances reached exact, indisputable results. Lucretius had the same confidence in Epicurus the physicist as in Epicurus the philosopher; this accounts for many of his mistakes.

In spite of all its shortcomings, however, it is impossible to read even the driest and most scientific parts of Lucretius’ poem without repeatedly coming upon astounding truths which he glimpsed or predicted and which modern science must accept and confirm on the basis of controlled experiments, as we shall see later.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.