gr. ἄτομον, átomon: «inseccionável», matéria indivisível, partícula, átomo. Os átomos em Leucipo e Demócrito são grandezas materiais, infinitas em número (vide plethos) indivisíveis, homogêneas, possuem um “corpo comum” (to koinon soma), mas diferem quanto à figura (skhema), a ordem (taxis) e à posição (thesis). (Notions Philosophiques)
Atom, the uncutable smallest bit of matter ac cording to Democritus and other ancient Atomists. Atoms are internally changeless, partless, ungenerated, and undestroyed. Complex entities are formed by many atoms sticking together in various ways. Epicurus presents his version of the atomic theory in the Letter to Herodotus, primarily. An extensive account is presented in Lucretius, de Rerum Natura. (HDAGP)
Plotin fait ici allusion aux atomistes, qui soutiennent que les quatre corps simples traditionnels sont eux-mêmes des corps composés d’éléments insécables, les atomes. (->art5374)
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