Not to be confused with The Nature of Things, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television show about natural science. The Nature of Things is a Canadian television series which presents episodes examing natural science. ... The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a Canadian crown corporation, is the countrys national radio and television broadcaster. ... The lunar farside as seen from Apollo 11 Natural science is the study of the physical, nonhuman aspects of the Earth and the universe around us. ...

In his epic poem, the Roman philosopher and poet Lucretius argued (among many things) that everything in the universe is composed of tiny atoms moving about in an infinite void, rather than being the creation of deities as was common belief.

On the Nature of Things is a first century BC epic poem by Lucretius that grandly proclaims the reality of man's role in a universe without a god to help him along. It is a statement of personal responsibility in a world in which everyone is driven by hungers and passions with which they were born and do not understand. Earth Over Africa -- NASA public domain Original [1] This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Earth Over Africa -- NASA public domain Original [1] This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. ... The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, and one of the major forms of narrative literature. ... Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. ...

Seeing with compassion

Literally, the title translates as '"On the Nature of Things"'/ The title is sometimes translated as "On the Nature of the Universe"', perhaps in order to reflect the scale of its subject matter. Lucretius's view is austere, but nevertheless he points out that a few enlightened individuals can escape periodically from their own hungers and passions and look down with compassion on poor humanity, including themselves, who are on average ignorant, unhappy, and yearning for something better than what they see around them. Personal responsibility then consists of speaking and living personal truth. Enlightenment (concept) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

Accordingly, On the Nature of the Universe (Latin: Dē rērum nātūrā) is Lucretius's personal statement of truth to an ignorant audience. He hopes that someone will hear, understand, and pass on a seed of truth to help improve the world.

The poem consists of the following main arguments.

• Substance is eternal.
  • Atoms move in an infinite void.
  • The universe is all atoms and void, nothing else. (Hence, Lucretius's view is labeled as atomism.)

• Man's soul consists of minute atoms that dissipate into smoke when a person dies.
  • Gods exist, but they did not start the universe, and they have no concern for men.

• Likely there are other worlds in the universe much like this one, likewise composed of changing combinations of atoms.
  • Being mere shifting combinations of atoms, this world and the other worlds are not eternal.
  • The other worlds out there are not controlled by gods any more than this one.

• The forms of life in this world and in the other worlds change, increasing in power for a time and then losing power to other forms.
  • Mankind went through a savage beginning, and there has been noticeable improvement in skill and ability, but even this world will pass away.

• Men know by either the senses or by reason
  • Senses are dependable.
  • Reason infers underlying explanations, but reason can reach false inferences. Hence, inferences must be continually verified against the senses.
  • (Compare to Plato, who believed that senses could be fooled and reason was reliable.)

• The senses perceive the macroscopic collisions and interactions of bodies.
  • But reason infers the atoms and the void to explain what the senses perceive.

• Men avoid pain and seek what gives them pleasure.
  • The average person then is driven to maximize pleasure while avoiding pain.

• People are born with two big vulnerabilities for hurt, the fear of gods and the fear of death.
  • But the gods will not hurt you, and death is easy when life is gone.
  • When you are gone, the atoms in your soul and the atoms in your body will still be here making up something else, a rock, a lake, or a flower.

In natural philosophy, atomism is the theory that all the objects in the universe are composed of very small, indestructible elements. ... Plato Plato (Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn) (c. ...

Characters in the drama

There are several characters in the drama of this epic poem. Epicurus is a teacher who passed to Lucretius the light of understanding. The character Religion is a monster that attacks men from the sky and seeks to destroy truth. Epicurus wins against Religion because he explains to the comprehending person the vast and infinite universe, and brings a sudden realisation of what can be and what cannot be. This sudden understanding of the underlying atoms, void, and possible interactions of the universe will free individuals from the inherited fears of gods and of death. Bust of Epicurus Epicurus (Epikouros or Επικουρος in Greek) (born Samos 341 BC–died Athens, 270 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher who was the founder of Epicureanism, one of the most popular schools of Hellenistic Philosophy. ...

Here are the words of Lucretius translated to English by William Ellery Leonard and provided by courtesy of the Gutenberg e-text project. [1] Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ...

Whilst human kind

Throughout the lands lay miserably crushed

Before all eyes beneath Religion--who

Would show her head along the region skies,

Glowering on mortals with her hideous face--

A Greek [Epicurus] it was who first opposing dared

Raise mortal eyes that terror to withstand,

Whom nor the fame of Gods nor lightning's stroke

Nor threatening thunder of the ominous sky

Abashed; but rather chafed to angry zest

His dauntless heart to be the first to rend

The crossbars at the gates of Nature old.

And thus his will and hardy wisdom won;

And forward thus he fared afar, beyond

The flaming ramparts of the world, until

He wandered the unmeasurable All.

Whence he to us, a conqueror, reports

What things can rise to being, what cannot,

And by what law to each its scope prescribed,

Its boundary stone that clings so deep in Time.

Wherefore Religion now is under foot,

And us his victory now exalts to heaven.

What draws men to religion?

Lucretius has compassion for those men who do not understand the mechanisms of the universe that gave them birth. He felt these ignorant and unfortunate men need religion to explain where they came from, why good things sometimes occur, and what could possibly shield them from the misfortunes they see fall upon others.

Nor [is this the place] to pursue the atoms one by one,

To see the law whereby each thing goes on.

But some men, ignorant of matter, think,

Opposing this, that not without the gods,

In such adjustment to our human ways,

Can nature change the seasons of the years,

And bring to birth the grains and all of else

To which divine Delight, the guide of life,

Persuades mortality and leads it on,

That, through her artful blandishments of love,

It propagate the generations still,

Lest humankind should perish. When they feign

That gods have stablished all things but for man,

They seem in all ways mightily to lapse

From reason's truth: for ev'n if ne'er I knew

What seeds primordial are, yet would I dare

This to affirm, ev'n from deep judgment based

Upon the ways and conduct of the skies--

This to maintain by many a fact besides--

That in no wise the nature of the world

For us was builded by a power divine--

So great the faults it stands encumbered with:

The which, dear Memmius, later on, for thee

We will clear up. Now as to what remains

Concerning motions we'll unfold our thought.

Lucretius wrote this epic poem to "Memmius", who may be the Gaius Memmius who in 58 BC was a praetor, a judicial official deciding controversies between citizens and between citizens and the government. There are over a dozen references to "Memmius" scattered throughout the long poem in a variety of contexts in translation, such as "Memmius mine", "my Memmius", and "illustrious Memmius". Apparently, Lucretius wrote On the Nature of Things in an attempt to convert Gaius Memmius to atomism, but was unsuccessful. Gaius Memmius (incorrectly called Gemellus, The Twin), Roman orator and poet, tribune of the people (66 BC), friend of Lucretius and Catullus. ... // Definition According to Cicero, Praetor was a title which designated the consuls as the leaders of the armies of the state. ...

See also

• Lucretius

Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. ...

External link

• Project Gutenberg e-text of On The Nature Of Things

Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ...

References

• Lucretius The Way Things Are: The De Rerum Natura, translation by Rolfe Humphries, Indiana University Press 1968, ISBN 025320125X
• E-text of On the Nature of Things [2]
• Summary of On the Nature of Things, by section [3]
• Analysis of Lucretius's "conversion" challenge in terms of designing a "meme" that would compete with the surrounding memes of creationism; "as doctors sweeten bitter medicine with honey", so Lucretius sweetened the conversion pill as poetry [4]