1 article for "Empedocles"

(em-ped'oh-kleez)

(BC490-430) Greek philosopher. Born at Akragas (Agrigento), Sicily and died at Mount Etna.

Strongly inclined to politics in his youth, he was a party to the overthrow of a tyranny in Akragas, his birthplace. He regarded the heart as the center of the blood-vessel system, and the seat of life. Previous philosophers had advocated a choice for the basic element of the universe: WATER (Thales), AIR (Anaximenes), FIRE (Heraclitus), and EARTH (Xenophanes). Empedocles proposed a mix of all four elements.

See also: ♦ Elements