The • of Awareness

Abstract

A point is that which has no part. (Euclid, 1956, Book I, Def. 1) Euclid was born ca. 300 BCE at Alexandria, Egypt, so why worry about his definition? Here’s why: Euclid’s point is a natural kind defined by the absence of parts. Bizarre! Just imagine an object lacking of natural parts! Think of a cat and try to ‘‘put a blind eye’’ to its head. Now go on with its tail and any other part you can imagine. What you end up with is a cat without parts. Cheshire cat (Carroll, 1865) perhaps? More likely you lost the cat in the process. Truly atomic objects are nothing. But, according to Democritus (Bakalis, 2005), reality itself is nothing but ‘‘atoms and void,’’ pretty much our modern perspective. Such a reality can’t account for much!