Love, Sex and the Gods: Why things have divine names in Empedocles’ poem, and why they come in pairs

Rowett, Catherine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4860-0323 (2016) Love, Sex and the Gods: Why things have divine names in Empedocles’ poem, and why they come in pairs. Rhizomata-A Journal for Ancient Philosophy and Science, 4 (1). 80–110. ISSN 2196-5102

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Abstract

When Empedocles uses a divine name for one of the items in his ontology, does this serve merely as a poetic metaphor or does it mean that the item in question is a god, with personal agency and intentions? In Empedocles’ poem, most things are described as if they were intentional agents and seem to function as such. Is there anything in the universe that does not have a mind or does not engage in intentional action? In this paper I argue that Empedocles was talking of a universe in which all the components, without exception, are living beings with mental capacities and that their power is the power of agents, acting voluntarily, not of inanimate forces acting mechanically. There is nothing in Empedocles’ ontology that could be described as inert matter, and there are no inanimate things.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	empedocles,love,strife,elements,gender,explanation,causation,divinities,cosmic cycle,mixture,separation,agency
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies (former - to 2024)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Wittgenstein
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	22 Mar 2016 09:25
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2024 00:39
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/57758
DOI:	10.1515/rhiz-2016-0005

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