— DemocritusDiels-Kranz 68 B117, preserved in Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 9.72; approximate English rendering
Commentary
This brief saying, preserved by Diogenes Laertius, is one of the few Democritean statements about the nature of knowledge that survives in an unambiguous form. The image of truth buried in the depths suggests that reality is hidden beneath the surface of sensory appearance, which accords with the distinction drawn in the convention fragment between what seems and what is. C. C. W. Taylor, in The Atomists, reads the saying as an epistemological claim that the atomist must work beneath the sensible world to reach the physical truth. David Furley's studies of the atomists have emphasised that the search for hidden causes was central to Democritus' method, and that the saying expresses that methodological commitment. Kirk, Raven, and Schofield, in The Presocratic Philosophers, note that the image of depths is also a traditional metaphor in Greek thought, so that the saying may draw on a common stock of imagery rather than on a specific doctrine. Gregory Vlastos has suggested that the saying should be read alongside the ethical fragments, since the search for truth is also presented as a condition of a stable life. The English is an approximation, and the exact Greek should be consulted before the saying is quoted, since the verb and noun in the original admit several renderings.
Commentary
This brief saying, preserved by Diogenes Laertius, is one of the few Democritean statements about the nature of knowledge that survives in an unambiguous form. The image of truth buried in the depths suggests that reality is hidden beneath the surface of sensory appearance, which accords with the distinction drawn in the convention fragment between what seems and what is. C. C. W. Taylor, in The Atomists, reads the saying as an epistemological claim that the atomist must work beneath the sensible world to reach the physical truth. David Furley's studies of the atomists have emphasised that the search for hidden causes was central to Democritus' method, and that the saying expresses that methodological commitment. Kirk, Raven, and Schofield, in The Presocratic Philosophers, note that the image of depths is also a traditional metaphor in Greek thought, so that the saying may draw on a common stock of imagery rather than on a specific doctrine. Gregory Vlastos has suggested that the saying should be read alongside the ethical fragments, since the search for truth is also presented as a condition of a stable life. The English is an approximation, and the exact Greek should be consulted before the saying is quoted, since the verb and noun in the original admit several renderings.