From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordΣτερεά are solids; ναστά are packed or compact parts; πυκνά means dense or close-packed.
- In this workPhiloponus’ A872 inference requires some parts of a porous body to be solid and indivisible, because uninterrupted passages everywhere would make the entire body void.
- In this editionDistinguish Philoponus from Pseudo-Philoponus.
- A place to readDerives solid indivisible touching parts from his objection to passages extending through all body.
Meaning
Στερεά are solids; ναστά are packed or compact parts; πυκνά means dense or close-packed. The touching-parts expression belongs to a critical account of the structure between passages. Solidity and indivisibility are linked by that argument, not simply equivalent by dictionary definition.
Use in the book
Philoponus’ A872 inference requires some parts of a porous body to be solid and indivisible, because uninterrupted passages everywhere would make the entire body void. He then places empty intervals between touching portions. Other excerpts of the same commentary insist instead that pore-theorists fill passages with finer bodies, which separates their account from void theory.
The final witness, Pseudo-Philoponus, reports a mixture of passages and solid parts in sublunary bodies such as water and oil, adding the designations hollows and close-packed. This is not an assertion that ordinary liquids are made of visible hard grains. It is a structural interpretation at a scale and level of explanation not specified quantitatively in the excerpt.
The headword distinguishes the positive occupants of a body from its passages while preserving the dispute about what fills the passages themselves. It also prevents the later critic’s requirement of indivisibility from being treated as part of the bare meaning of compactness.
Places to read
- A 87 (polemical)2Philoponus, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away. Derives solid indivisible touching parts from his objection to passages extending through all body.
- A 87 (testimony)2Pseudo-Philoponus, On the Generation of Animals. Reports passages and packed parts in water, oil and other sublunary bodies, with the labels hollows and close-packed.
Translation in this edition
Distinguish Philoponus from Pseudo-Philoponus. The final notice’s book-reference does not attribute an Aristotelian work to Empedocles.