Philosopher, Mathematician, Physicist, Scholar (c.320 BC – c.270 BC)
Straton of Lampsacus was an Aristotelian philosopher. He succeeded Theophrastus as the third headmaster of the Peripatetic School of philosophy, also known as Aristotle‘s Lyceum. Strato was primarily involved with the physical aspects of Aristotle’s philosophy, which he analysed and expanded upon, earning the title of “physicist”. A supporter of the atomic theory, he attempted to combine Aristotle’s physics with Democritus‘ philosophy.
Athens and Alexandria were the two major cities where Strato lived and worked. In Alexandria he befriended Ptolemy II Philadelphus the Pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt and served as his teacher and mentor. It is not unlikely that Strato worked in the Museum of Alexandria, meeting and working alongside highly prestigious scientists. It was presumably in Athens where he first came into contact with Aristotle’s philosophy through Theophrastus and joined the Lyceum as a scholar.
As a philosopher, Strato dealt with the component of philosophy now known as physics, aiming to interpret the natural world and the metaphysical concepts by logic and mathematical laws. He wrote extensive treatises on physiology, zoology, cosmology, logic, ethics, psychology and natural history. Strato taught that the natural world was bound by laws which governed the way it functioned. According to this teaching Strato accepted that the intellect is a biological phenomenon, which modern medicine has indeed established through the actions of the brain nuclei, the neural tracts and the neurotransmitters. He viewed the intellect as an action of the mind inasmuch as smell and vision are actions of the nose and the eyes respectively while asserted that the soul of man is a moving force consisting of logical and illogical components. He elaborated that the intellectual process is a movement and is the force which moves the soul to execute its functions. Behind every move that drives the soul there is a cause. The seat of the soul is the brain and the sensory organs “windows” of the soul to the physical world.
Strato is considered as the representative philosopher of the theory of “materialism”. He postulated on the void theory, according to which all substances are composed of void. This would explain their weight difference as Strato attributed them to differences in the extent of the void. The presence of void within all substances would further explain why one substance can penetrate an other. He employed the use of the experimental method in his research to reach his deductions. He studied the motion of solid objects, researched inertia and proved by the experimental method that bodies during free fall exhibit acceleration. Furthermore, he discovered the nature of sound and asserted that the sound’s pitch is due to the frequency of the sound. Strato researched psychology, sleep and the function of dreams.
After serving 18 years as headmaster of the Lyceum, Strato passed away and was succeeded by Lycon, one of his students. It is most reasonable to acknowledge that had at least some books of Strato’s literary corpus survived, his position in history as a major Peripatetic philosopher would have been more righteous.
Bibliography:
- Γεωργακόπουλος, Κωνσταντίνος. 1995. Ἀρχαῖοι Ἕλληνες Θετικοὶ Ἐπιστήμονες. Ἐκδόσεις Γεωργιάδης. Β’ Ἔκδοσις. Ἀθῆναι.
- Straton o Lamsakenos. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Ioannis Passas, Athens, 1946.
- Gottschalk, H.B., (2020). Strato of Lampsacus.Encyclopaedia.com. Available at: https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/philosophy-biographies/strato-lampsacus. Retrieved: July 5, 2020.
