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Classical element
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=== Aristotle === [[File:Statue_at_the_Aristotle_University_of_Thessaloniki_(cropped).jpg|alt=Statue at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki|thumb|205x205px|Aristotle]] In ''[[On the Heavens]]'' (350 BC), Aristotle defines "element" in general:<ref>{{Citation |last1=Weisberg |first1=M. |title=Philosophy of Chemistry |date=2019 |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/chemistry/ |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=E. N. |edition=Spring 2019 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |last2=Needham |first2=P. |last3=Hendry |first3=R.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Aristotle |url=https://archive.org/details/onheavens0000aris/page/283/mode/1up?view=theater |title=On the Heavens |year=1922 |pages=3.3, 302a17–19 |translator-last=Stocks |translator-first=J. L. |orig-date=350 BCE}}</ref> {{Blockquote|An element, we take it, is a body into which other bodies may be analysed, present in them potentially or in actuality (which of these, is still disputable), and not itself divisible into bodies different in form. That, or something like it, is what all men in every case mean by element.<ref>{{Citation |author=Aristotle |title=[[On the Heavens]] |at=III.3.302a17–19 |author-link=Aristotle |translator-last=Stocks |translator-first=J.L.}}</ref>|author=Aristotle|title=On the Heavens|source=Book III, Chapter III}} In his ''[[On Generation and Corruption]]'',<ref>{{cite wikisource |author=Aristotle |wslink=Περί Γενέσεως και Φθοράς/2 |anchor=Κεφάλαιο 3 |wslanguage=el |quote={{lang|grc|τὸ μὲν γὰρ πῦρ θερμὸν καὶ ξηρόν, ὁ δ' ἀὴρ θερμὸν καὶ ὑγρόν (οἷον ἀτμὶς γὰρ ὁ ἀήρ), τὸ δ' ὕδωρ ψυχρὸν καὶ ὑγρόν, ἡ δὲ γῆ ψυχρὸν καὶ ξηρόν}}}}</ref>{{sfnp|Lloyd|1968|pp=166–169}} Aristotle related each of the four elements to two of the four sensible qualities: * [[Fire (classical element)|'''Fire''']] is both hot and dry. * [[Air (classical element)|'''Air''']] is both hot and wet (for air is like vapor, {{lang|grc|ἀτμὶς}}). * [[Water (classical element)|'''Water''']] is both cold and wet. * [[Earth (classical element)|'''Earth''']] is both cold and dry. A classic diagram has one square [[inscribed]] in the other, with the corners of one being the classical elements, and the corners of the other being the properties. The opposite corner is the opposite of these properties, "hot – cold" and "dry – wet". ==== Aether ==== [[Aristotle]] added a fifth element, [[Aether (classical element)#Fifth element|aether]] ({{lang|grc|αἰθήρ}} {{transliteration|grc|aither}}), as the quintessence, reasoning that whereas fire, earth, air, and water were earthly and corruptible, since no changes had been perceived in the heavenly regions, the [[star]]s cannot be made out of any of the four elements but must be made of a different, unchangeable, heavenly substance.{{sfnp|Lloyd|1968|pp=[https://archive.org/details/aristotlegrowths0000lloy/page/133 133–139]}} It had previously been believed by pre-Socratics such as Empedocles and [[Anaxagoras]] that aether, the name applied to the material of heavenly bodies, was a form of fire. Aristotle himself did not use the term ''aether'' for the fifth element, and strongly criticised the pre-Socratics for associating the term with fire. He preferred a number of other terms indicating eternal movement, thus emphasising the evidence for his discovery of a new element.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1971 |chapter=Aristotle's analysis of change and Plato's theory of Transcendent Ideas |publisher=SUNY Press |last=Chung-Hwan |first=Chen |author-link=Chen Chung-hwan |editor-last=Anton |editor-first=John P. |volume=2 |pages=406–407 |isbn=0873956230 |editor2-first=Anthony |editor2-last=Preus |title=Ancient Greek Philosophy}}.</ref> These five elements have been associated since Plato's [[Timaeus (dialogue)|''Timaeus'']] with the five [[platonic solid]]s. Earth was associated with the cube, air with the octahedron, water with the icosahedron, and fire with the tetrahedron. Of the fifth Platonic solid, the dodecahedron, Plato obscurely remarked, "...the god used [it] for arranging the constellations on the whole heaven". [[Aristotle]] added a fifth element, [[aether (classical element)|aither]] (aether in Latin, "ether" in English) and postulated that the heavens were made of this element, but he had no interest in matching it with Plato's fifth solid.<ref>Wildberg (1988): Wildberg discusses the correspondence of the Platonic solids with elements in ''Timaeus'' but notes that this correspondence appears to have been forgotten in ''[[Epinomis]]'', which he calls "a long step towards Aristotle's theory", and he points out that Aristotle's ether is above the other four elements rather than on an equal footing with them, making the correspondence less apposite.</ref>
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