Atomism (from Ancient Greek ἄτομον (atomon) 'uncuttable, indivisible') [1][2][3] is a natural philosophy proposing that the physical universe is composed of fundamental indivisible components known as atoms.

Atomism, any doctrine that explains complex phenomena in terms of aggregates of fixed particles or units. This philosophy has found its most successful application in natural science: according to the atomistic view, the material universe is composed of minute particles, which are considered to …

Jun 30, 2005 · Atomism in the form in which it first emerged in Ancient Greece was a metaphysical thesis, purporting to establish claims about the ultimate nature of material reality by philosophical argument. Versions of atomism developed by mechanical philosophers in the seventeenth century shared that characteristic.

Aug 23, 2005 · The term ‘atomism’ is sometimes understood to refer to theories explaining changes in the material world by the rearrangements of minute particles of matter, or to the idea that any kind of magnitude—geometrical extension, time …

Atomism in the strict sense is not merely one of the historical forms of atomism, one of the many possible scientific attempts at explaining certain physical phenomena; it is, first of all, a metaphysical system: it has been presented as the only …

atomism, Philosophical doctrine that material objects are aggregates of simpler parts known as atoms. Atomism in the strict sense is characterized by three points: the atoms are absolutely …

May 29, 2018 · This article treats physical atomism chronologically under the headings of Greek atomism, other early forms, medieval conceptions, developments from the Renaissance to the 17th century, the classical atomism of the 18th and 19th centuries and the status of atomism in the 20th century.

Jan 21, 2020 · Atomism was a Pre-Socratic philosophy that explained that all of nature is composed of indivisible units, called atoms, and the void.

In natural philosophy, atomism is the theory that all the objects in the universe are composed of very small, invisible, indestructible building blocks— atoms. The word atomism derives from the ancient Greek word atomos, which means "that which cannot be cut into smaller pieces."

As early as the 5th century bce, atomism in the strict sense (Leucippus and Democritus) is found, along with various qualitative forms of atomism: that of Empedocles, based on the doctrine of the four elements, and that of Anaxagoras, with as many qualitatively different atoms as there are different substances.