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Epicurus on properties

Epicurus and Democritus famously start in the same way in metaphysics but diverge very early: in contrast with Democritean eliminativism based on atomistic theory, Epicurus defends reality of the thing as perceived, but also wanted to supplement and explain it through reductionism based on atomistic theory. I find this combination intriguing and even rather attractive, so my attempt is to reconstruct Epicurus’ analysis of properties guided by this attractive picture. In the paper I will try to claim that the taxonomy of properties and distinction between them is established in an accurate understanding of per se existents, guided by very strong realism and a fundamental role of perception. My attempt is also to show that Epicurus tries to couple the epistemologically guided access to properties and explain it by reductionism founded upon atomistic theory. And finally, I want to propose that his strong epistemological realism about manifest and common-sense properties unexpectedly combined with reductionism may offer a possibility for a reading in which properties are taken to be epistemological, but real aspects of a body.

Epicurus; properities; ontology; epistemological apsects; colour

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