Epicurus also posited that the world is made of atoms — the atomos (indivisible) elements of matter.
The Greek scientific philosopher Empedocles listed fire as one of the four elements of matter.
The structure of the body mirrored that of the Earth; the four humours of the body mirrored the four elements of matter.
The human person, however, consists in material (rupa) and mental (nama) factors, which leads to an account of the various elements of matter.
This principle found a sophisticated application in Plato's creation story, the Timaeus, which presents the smallest particles, or "elements," of matter as regular geometrical figures.
But no one thinks the Higgs is the final word about what underlies the Standard Model of particle physics, the theory that describes the most basic elements of matter and the forces through which they interact.
Perhaps, as with the elements of matter, investigation passes a threshold of common sense and enters a sub-atomic realm where laws are mocked, where persons have the life-span of beta particles and the transparency of neutrinos, and where a rough kind of averaging out must substitute for absolute truth.
As a doctor working in general practice and emergency medicine, I am conscious that until relatively recently physicians saw a natural parallel between the body and the environment: they assumed that the four elements of matter corresponded with the four humours that sustained health.
To establish that atoms are the primary principles or elements of matter, Gassendi draws deeply on the well of ancient atomist argument.
In micro- and nanoscopic objects, such as the basic elements of matter, the effect of an external magnetic field on the growth and behavior of the matter system needs to be evaluated.
