A philosopher, poet, politician, and visionary, Empedocles of Acragas developed radical new ideas about the nature of the universe. His philosophy of the four elements in the universe and the definition of matter as the various ratios of these elements...

The Greek philosopher, poet, and scientist Empedocles (493-433 BC) propounded a pluralist cosmological scheme in which fire, air, water, and earth mingled and separated under the compulsion of love and strife. Empedocles was born of a noble family in...

Empedocles is regarded as a pre-Socratic philosopher, although his lifetime overlaps that of Socrates. He is notable for propounding both an ingenious naturalistic view of the cosmos and an extravagantly nonnaturalistic doctrine involving the survival...

EMPEDOCLES of Acragas (Sicily), a Greek philosopher and sage who lived in the first half of the fifth century BCE (c. 495–435 BCE) and who ended his life, according to a widespread but apocryphal tradition, by jumping into the crater of the...

Empedocles. c.492-c.432 B.C. Sicilian Philosopher, Poet, and Physician Empedocles is considered, perhaps incorrectly, the originator of the four-element theory...

Greek philosopher, poet, and politician A philosopher, poet, politician, and visionary, Empedocles of Acragas developed radical new ideas about the nature of the universe. His philosophy of the four elements in the universe and the definition of matter...

492?-432 B.C. Greek philosopher who gained fame as a physician, statesman, theologian, mystic, and democratic reformer. Only fragments of his long poem, On Nature, have survived. Galen called Empedocles the founder of the Italian school of medicine....

For the volcano, see Empedocles (volcano). Empedocles (Greek: Ἐμπεδοκλῆς, ca. 490–430 BC) was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek colony in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for being the origin...

In the following excerpt, Inwood examines controversies concerning Empedocles's life and works and offers a broad summary of his philosophy.

In the following excerpt, Sedley demonstrates that Lucretius based the proem of his De rerum natura on the work of Empedocles.

In the following essay, Woolford interprets Matthew Arnold's Empedocles on Etna as a philosophical debate between Arnold and Empedocles.