Abstract

The paper focuses on Democritus’ void (κενόν) as not-being and tackles two interrelated puzzles: (a) whether the two starting-points of the atomic theory, atoms and void, should be considered as equivalent and (b) how nothing can be something. It offers a close examination of the passages concerning emptiness in tandem with the corresponding views of Parmenides and Melissus, and then it reassesses Aristotle’s idea of a link between the notions of void and place.