title: The nature of water: excerpts from Pythagoras, Xenophanes, Heraclitus and Parmenides.
abstract: Water was a prominent substance with Pythagoras, Xenophanes, Heraclitus and Parmenides, who flourished in the years 530-490 bc. The basic Pythagorean elements were earth and fire, and between them there were 2 intermediate entities (water and air), which were instrumental and indispensable components of specific solids. All things are a blend of different elements. For Xenophanes, "All things that come into being and grow are earth and water," "We all originated from earth and water" and "And in certain caves water drips down."For Heraclitus water is an ambivalent substance: "One cannot bathe in the same river on two occasions." "The sea is the safest and the most polluted water, for fish it is healthy and gives life, for men it is unhealthy and causes death." "Fire experiences the death of earth, air experiences that of fire, water experiences the death of air and the earth that of water." Parmenides was a man who sought the truth through reasoning and was, according to Hegel, the founder of Western philosophy. He built a dualist theory of the cosmos based on heat and cold, fire and earth - the former as a cause, the latter as substrate. The former unified, the latter separated. According to Aristotle, Parmenides considered air and water as mixtures of earth and fire.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Mazzini, Naples, Italy. cbisacc@tin.it
authors.forename: Carmela
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bisaccia
authors.forename: Rosa Maria
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: De Santo
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bilancio
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Anastasio
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perna
authors.forename: Luca Salvatore
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: De Santo
mesh_terms: D005197:Famous Persons; D018645:Greek World / Q000266:history*; D049690:History, Ancient; D010684:Philosophy / Q000266:history*; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water