Page:Early Greek philosophy by John Burnet, 3rd edition, 1920.djvu/347

Rh wished to refute Leukippos, he would have had to use arguments of a very different kind.

172. Theophrastos wrote of Leukippos as follows in the First Book of his Opinions:

173. It will be observed that Theophrastos, while noting the affiliation of Leukippos to the Eleatic school, points out that his theory is, prima facie, just the opposite of that maintained by Parmenides. Some have been led by this to deny the Eleaticism of Leukippos altogether; but this denial is really based on the view that the system of Parmenides was "metaphysical," coupled with a great reluctance to admit that so scientific a hypothesis as the atomic theory can have had a "metaphysical" origin. This is merely a prejudice, and we must not suppose Theophrastos himself believed the two theories to be so far apart as they