Horror Vacui in the Third Century Bc: When Is a Theory Not a Theory?

Abstract

Modern scholars often use the term horror vacui to describe what they take to be a theory used in ancient times to explain certain phenomena. The term horror vacui is invoked as if it were readily understood, but is in fact used in very different ways, so much so that this has hampered understanding of early ideas about the power of void. I shall first review the rather involved arguments surrounding a particular historical issue, demonstrating the confusion that has arisen, then attempt an alternative analysis of ancient views on 'motion into empty spaces'. I shall argue that this phenomenon is an effect rather than a theory, widely recognized among philosophers, physicians and engineers of the fourth and third century BC, and explained in several different ways.

Studia Socjologiczne

“…Przykładem jest ciągnący się od starożytności problem hororr vaccui (por. Berryman 1997). Filozoficzne debaty na ten temat trwały aż do wieku XVI, gdy najpierw Evangelista Torricelli, a później Robert Boyle zaczęli w szklanych naczyniach wytwarzać "puste przestrzenie" i zadawać niewygodne pytanie o to, co tam się zdaniem filozofów znajduje.…”

Pores and Void in Asclepiades’ Physical Theory

“… 61) Erasistratus’ principle of PTKA has often been associated with later theories of horror vacui in scholarship, but see Berryman (1997) for cautionary remarks. …”

Wonder-making and philosophical wonder in Hero of Alexandria

“…39 and 97, on the presence of Aristotelian philosophy in the Hellenistic period.12 Hero refers to Aristotle in the Catoptrics, 318.7. The extent to which Hero draws on Strato in the introduction to the Pneumatics is widely debated: seeDiels (1893);Furley (1989);Berryman (1997); andLehoux (1999). I argue inTybjerg (2000) that Hero did draw on Strato, but that the evidence for the extent of this influence is inconclusive; Hero's text can under no circumstances be understood as being copied from a single source.13 Aristotle, Metaphysics, 981b14ff.…”