‘Come se nulla fosse’. La nozione di vuoto nell’atomismo antico

This article examines the ancient atomist conception of the void, traditionally attributed to Leucippus and Democritus. While a dominant scholarly view – shaped notably by David Sedley – holds that the Ancient Atomists’ void had solely an elementa- ristic function (the not-being as a constituent of the whole), this paper argues for a dual conception: the void as both an element and as the spatial extension in which atoms move. Building on recent work by Monte Ransome Johnson, who defends the reliability of Aristotle’s testimony, this study re-evaluates key texts and terms to show that early atomists did indeed attribute both functions to the void. It also explores how Epicurus and later Epicureans addressed the conceptual tensions inherent in this duality.