Editing Leucippus (section)

=== Eleatics and the void ===
Leucippus's atomism was a direct response to [[Eleatic philosophy]]. The Eleatics believed that nothingness, or [[The Void (philosophy)|the void]], cannot exist in its own right. They concluded that if there is no void, then there is no motion and all things [[Monism|must be one]].{{Sfn|Skordoulis|Koutalis|2013|pp=467–468}}{{Sfn|Gregory|2020|pp=23–24}} Leucippus agreed with their logic, but he said that the void did exist, and he was therefore able to accept the existence of motion and [[Pluralism (philosophy)|plurality]].{{Sfn|Vamvacas|2009|p=212}}{{Sfn|Stokes|1971|p=219}} Like the Eleatics, Leucippus believed that everything exists in an eternal state and nothing can come into or out of existence, applying this to both atoms and the void.{{Sfn|Vamvacas|2009|pp=212–213}}{{Sfn|Kirk|Raven|1957|p=405}} Aristotle described Leucippus as saying that atoms are not an addition to the void, but that atoms and the void are two opposites that exist beside one another.{{Sfn|Vamvacas|2009|pp=212–213}} The 6th-century CE philosopher [[Simplicius of Cilicia]] also wrote about this idea, but he attributed it to Democritus.{{Sfn|Graham|2008|p=345}} According to the Christian author [[Lactantius]], Leucippus compared atoms to the particles of floating dust that are visible in sunlight.{{Sfn|Barnes|2012|p=366}}

Leucippus's atomism kept the [[Ontology|concepts of reality]] developed by the Eleatics, but it applied them to a physical explanation of the world.{{Sfn|Vamvacas|2009|p=212}}{{Sfn|Laks|2018|p=89}} By moving away from the abstract points and units of geometry, he formed a possible solution to the [[Zeno's paradoxes|paradoxes of motion]] created by [[Zeno of Elea]], which held that indivisibility made motion impossible.{{Sfn|Furley|1987|p=110}}{{Sfn|Kirk|Raven|1957|p=372}} Leucippus also contested the Eleatic argument against divisibility: that any divider between two objects can also be divided. He argued that the void is a divider that does not have being and therefore cannot be divided.{{Sfn|Stokes|1971|pp=221–222}} Though Leucippus described atoms as being able to touch one another, Aristotle understood this to mean atoms being near one another, as Leucippus maintained that the void must exist between all atoms.{{Sfn|Stokes|1971|p=219}}{{Sfn|Barnes|2012|p=349}}