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The Theory of Four Elements Through History and Its Influence on the Development of Chemistry
Roberto Barbosa de Castilho
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DOI:10.17265/2159-5313/2021.12.002
Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), Seropédica, RJ, Brazil
The theory of four elements (or roots) was the first plural attempt to explain life and change and was based on the combination of four different roots that give rise to life and matter. The four elements (fire, air, water and earth) were thought to be the building blocks of all substances. This theory was derived from observation and reason and it might be viewed as a material or substancialist theory. Its development brought important concepts such as equilibrium, proportion and combination to chemistry and medicine. The aim of the present paper is to describe the theory of four elements, its origin and development from Empedocles and Aristotle to Roulle and Beeckman. Although the conception of the chemical elementsin modern chemistry is different from the theory of four elements, that theory was valuable as an intellectual effort to understand nature and transmutation and to conciliate reason and senses, besides being the first theory postulating the pluralism of matter’s composition, in opposition to monism. I argue that chemistry has a past and it is important to know the theory of the four elements for its historical value because it can be considered an introductory chapter of chemistry, introducing the concepts of indestructible elements and the proportional combination of them in Western thought.
four elements, chemical element, pre-Socratic philosophers, transmutations, Bachelard
Roberto Barbosa de Castilho. (2021). The Theory of Four Elements Through History and Its Influence on the Development of Chemistry. Philosophy Study, December 2021, Vol. 11, No. 12, 914-922.
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