T H E C L A S S I C A L E L E M E N T S
"Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment,
doth teach us all to have aspiring minds."
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
doth teach us all to have aspiring minds."
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
Periodic Table - click to enlarge
A chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus.[1] Familiar examples of elements include gold, iron, copper, carbon, silicon, mercury, sodium, calcium, hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine, and neon.
As of May 2011, 118 elements have been identified, the latest being ununoctium in 2002.[2] Of the 118 known elements, only the first 94 are believed to occur naturally on Earth. Of these naturally occurring elements, 80 are stable or essentially so, while the others are radioactive, decaying into other, lighter elements over various timescales from hours to billions of years. Additional elements, of higher atomic numbers than those naturally occurring, have been produced technologically in recent decades as the products of nuclear reactions.
The properties of the chemical elements are often summarized using the periodic table, which powerfully and elegantly organizes the elements by increasing atomic number into rows ("periods") in which the columns ("groups") share recurring ("periodic") physical and chemical properties. Its invention is generally credited to Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869.The universe's naturally occurring chemical elements are thought to have been produced by various cosmic processes, including hydrogen and helium creation during the Big Bang,
As of May 2011, 118 elements have been identified, the latest being ununoctium in 2002.[2] Of the 118 known elements, only the first 94 are believed to occur naturally on Earth. Of these naturally occurring elements, 80 are stable or essentially so, while the others are radioactive, decaying into other, lighter elements over various timescales from hours to billions of years. Additional elements, of higher atomic numbers than those naturally occurring, have been produced technologically in recent decades as the products of nuclear reactions.
The properties of the chemical elements are often summarized using the periodic table, which powerfully and elegantly organizes the elements by increasing atomic number into rows ("periods") in which the columns ("groups") share recurring ("periodic") physical and chemical properties. Its invention is generally credited to Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869.The universe's naturally occurring chemical elements are thought to have been produced by various cosmic processes, including hydrogen and helium creation during the Big Bang,
According to psychiatrist Carl Jung, archetypes are innate universal psychic dispositions that form the substrate from which the basic symbols or representations of unconscious experience emerge. According to Jung there are four universal archetypes: Mother, Rebirth, Spirit, and Trickster (or Devil).[1] §→"The archetype is a tendency to form such representations of a motif - representations that can vary a great deal in detail without losing their basic pattern ... They are indeed an instinctive trend".[2] Thus for example "the archetype of initiation is strongly activated to provide a meaningful transition ... with a 'rite of passage' from one stage of life to the next":[3] such stages may include being parented, initiation, courtship, marriage and preparation for death.
Platonic idealism usually refers to Plato's theory of forms or doctrine of ideas, the exact philosophical meaning of which is perhaps one of the most disputed questions in higher academic philosophy. At least one may say, with some degree of certitude, that Plato held the realm of ideas to be absolute reality. As for the exact relationship between the ideal and non-ideal world, the platonic corpus is silent, insofar as interpretation must rely upon literary device, metaphor, and amphibology. Some commentators hold Plato argued that truth is an abstraction. In other words, we are urged to believe that Plato's theory of ideas is an abstraction, divorced from the so-called external world, of modern European philosophy, despite the fact Plato taught that ideas are ultimately real, and different from non-ideal things--indeed, he argued for a distinction between the ideal and non-ideal realm.
These commentators speak thus: For example, a particular tree, with a branch or two missing, possibly alive, possibly dead, and with the initials of two lovers carved into its bark, is distinct from the abstract form of Tree-ness.[1] A Tree[1] is the ideal that each of us holds that allows us to identify the imperfect reflections of trees all around us.Plato gives the divided line as an outline of this theory. At the top of the line, the Form of the Good[1] is found, directing everything underneath.
Timaeus describes the substance as a lack of homogeneity or balance, in which the four elements (earth, air, fire and water) were shapeless, mixed and in constant motion. Considering that order is favourable over disorder, the essential act of the creator was to bring order and clarity to this substance. Therefore, all the properties of the world are to be explained by the demiurge's choice of what is fair and good; or, the idea of a dichotomy between good and evil.
First of all, the world is a living creature. Since the unintelligent creatures are in their appearance less fair than intelligent creatures, and since intelligence needs to be settled in a soul, the demiurge "put intelligence in soul, and soul in body" in order to make a living and intelligent whole. "Wherefore, using the language of probability, we may say that the world became a living creature truly endowed with soul and intelligence by the providence of God" (30a-b).
Then, since the part is imperfect compared to the whole, the world had to be one and only. Therefore, the demiurge did not create several worlds, but a single unique world (31b).The creator decided also to make the perceptible body of the universe by four elements, in order to render it proportioned. Indeed, in addition to fire and earth, which make bodies visible and solid, a third element was required as a mean: "two things cannot be rightly put together without a third; there must be some bond of union between them". Moreover, since the world is not a surface but a solid, a fourth mean was needed to reach harmony: therefore, the creator placed water and air between fire and earth. "And for these reasons, and out of such elements which are in number four, the body of the world was created, and it was harmonised by proportion" (31-33).
These commentators speak thus: For example, a particular tree, with a branch or two missing, possibly alive, possibly dead, and with the initials of two lovers carved into its bark, is distinct from the abstract form of Tree-ness.[1] A Tree[1] is the ideal that each of us holds that allows us to identify the imperfect reflections of trees all around us.Plato gives the divided line as an outline of this theory. At the top of the line, the Form of the Good[1] is found, directing everything underneath.
Timaeus describes the substance as a lack of homogeneity or balance, in which the four elements (earth, air, fire and water) were shapeless, mixed and in constant motion. Considering that order is favourable over disorder, the essential act of the creator was to bring order and clarity to this substance. Therefore, all the properties of the world are to be explained by the demiurge's choice of what is fair and good; or, the idea of a dichotomy between good and evil.
First of all, the world is a living creature. Since the unintelligent creatures are in their appearance less fair than intelligent creatures, and since intelligence needs to be settled in a soul, the demiurge "put intelligence in soul, and soul in body" in order to make a living and intelligent whole. "Wherefore, using the language of probability, we may say that the world became a living creature truly endowed with soul and intelligence by the providence of God" (30a-b).
Then, since the part is imperfect compared to the whole, the world had to be one and only. Therefore, the demiurge did not create several worlds, but a single unique world (31b).The creator decided also to make the perceptible body of the universe by four elements, in order to render it proportioned. Indeed, in addition to fire and earth, which make bodies visible and solid, a third element was required as a mean: "two things cannot be rightly put together without a third; there must be some bond of union between them". Moreover, since the world is not a surface but a solid, a fourth mean was needed to reach harmony: therefore, the creator placed water and air between fire and earth. "And for these reasons, and out of such elements which are in number four, the body of the world was created, and it was harmonised by proportion" (31-33).
Jung proposed that the archetype had a dual nature: it exists both in the psyche and in the world at large. He called this non-psychic aspect of the archetype the "psychoid" archetype. He illustrated this by drawing on the analogy of the electromagnetic spectrum. The part of the spectrum which is visible to us corresponds to the conscious aspects of the archetype. The invisible infra-red end of the spectrum corresponds to the unconscious biological aspects of the archetype that merges with its chemical and physical conditions.[18] He suggested that not only do the archetypal structures govern the behavior of all living organisms, but that they were contiguous with structures controlling the behavior of organic matter as well. The archetype was not merely a psychic entity, but more fundamentally, a bridge to matter in general.[19] Jung used the ancient term of unus mundus; to describe the unitary reality which he believed underlay all manifest phenomena. He conceived archetypes to be the mediators of the unus mundus, organizing not only ideas in the psyche, but also the fundamental principles of matter and energy in the physical world.It was this psychoid aspect of the archetype that so impressed Nobel laureate physicist Wolfgang Pauli. Embracing Jung's concept, Pauli believed that the archetype provided a link between physical events and the mind of the scientist who studied them. In doing so he echoed the position adopted by German astronomer Johannes Kepler. Thus the archetypes which ordered our perceptions and ideas are themselves the product of an objective order which transcends both the human mind and the external world.[17]