PROTO-BIOETHICS OF THE ONE WHO “HAD THOUGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING”

Abstract

In the text, the authors examine Democritus’ proto-bioethical passages and assert that his fragmentarily preserved writings, along with those of some other early Hellenic writers, do not exhibit a distinct dichotomy between body and soul or between organic and inorganic. Instead, there appears to be a specific amalgamation of the two first-mentioned elements that is more aligned with his worldview, respectively, to the discourse he inherited, reflective of the era in which he lived and worked during the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Throughout this period, namely, the body was hard to imagine without the soul, but also the soul without matter. Consequently, the thinker of Abdera comprehends thinking as something corporeal similar to sensation and understands, analogous to Parmenides and Empedocles (and Plato), that like is perceived and understood by like. In DK68B164, it is clarified that he applies this reasoning to both ensouled (ἐμψύχων) and non-ensouled (ἀψύχων) entities. The expected result of such an approach is the claim, elaborated on in this article, that not only humans but also other creatures have certain cognitive and “willing” abilities. Although his notes contain aspects that clearly point to the kinship of all living beings and, to some extent, non-living ones, the one who “had thought about everything” still does not entirely adopt the non-homocentric perspectives of his predecessors and contemporaries, particularly those from southern Italy. The authors conclude that, alongside the insights above, it is possible to find reasoned positions in Democritus’ oeuvre that represent hints of later homocentric paradigms.