Void and spatiality in Epicurusâ letter to Herodotus

This thesis analyses the notion of void (to kenon) in Epicurusâ Letter to Herodotus: I argue that void should not be identified with space, but only with the empty intervals between bodies. The thesis is composed by four chapters. In Chapter 1, I maintain that the Epicurean void is meant to fulfil two different functions (that I call the âelementalâ and the âspatialâ functions): I discuss the historical roots of the attribution of these functions to the void, and suggest how they could be brought together in a unitary, hybrid conception. In Chapter 2, I examine how void, interpreted in this way, could make motion possible. I focus on the eixis of void, which I do not interpret in terms of receptivity, and draw a comparison with a contemporary metaphysical theory of holes to show that the resulting conception is coherent. In Chapter 3, I discuss the theory of the minimae partes in the atom, offering an original interpretation of the notions of 'part' and 'division' on which the theory relies. In Chapter 4, I analyse the consequences of this theory for the structure of void. I argue that the theory of minima naturally leads to suppose that motion is quantized: because of the Isomorphism Thesis, also time and spatial magnitudes must be composed by minima. However, I conclude that void in itself has not a granular structure, but is affected by the quantization only in a very peculiar and restricted sense.