Il continuo di Democrito nelle testimonianze di Aristotele

In this article, I will focus on continuity as a pervasive notion in ancient philosophy, especially in physics and mathematics. In particular, I will examine Democritean atomism as it was investigated, interpreted and criticised by one of its most authoritative sources, namely Aristotle. The reason for this choice is that Democritus was instrumental for Aristotle’s continuum theory. My discussion will consist of three steps. First, I will try to show that the Presocratics had a naive concept of the continuum, i.e. a simple and intuitive notion of it that does not require a formal definition. Secondly, I will show that Aristotle, in GC I 8, jointly examines Eleatics and Atomists because the similarities and differences he finds in the theories of these philosophers are decisive for the formulation of his own continuum theory. Thirdly, I will show that if, on the one hand, Aristotle gives the Atomists credit for understanding that there are different types of motion, on the other hand he demonstrates that their conception of the continuum actually makes it impossible to explain how each type of motion occurs. Finally, I will summarize the main issues of Aristotle’s criticism of Democritus’ continuum