Page "Epicurus" Paragraph 12

Epicurus's teachings represented a departure from the other major Greek thinkers of his period, and before, but was nevertheless founded on many of the same principles as Democritus.

Like Democritus, he was an atomist, believing that the fundamental constituents of the world were indivisible little bits of matter ( atoms, Greek atomos, indivisible ) flying through empty space ( kenos ).

Everything that occurs is the result of the atoms colliding, rebounding, and becoming entangled with one another, with no purpose or plan behind their motions.

( Compare this with the modern study of particle physics.

) His theory differs from the earlier atomism of Democritus because he admits that atoms do not always follow straight lines but their direction of motion may occasionally exhibit a ' swerve ' ( clinamen ).

This allowed him to avoid the determinism implicit in the earlier atomism and to affirm free will.

( Compare this with the modern theory of quantum physics, which postulates a non-deterministic random motion of fundamental particles, which do not swerve absent an external force ; randomness originates in interaction of particles in incompatible eigenstates.