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{{redirect|4 Elements|the album by Chronic Future|4 Elements (album)}}
{{redirect|4 Elements|the album by Chronic Future|4 Elements (album)}}
{{classic element}}
{{classic element}}
[[File:Fotothek df tg 0006472 Theosophie ^ Philosophie ^ Sonifikation ^ Musik.jpg|thumb|Segment of the macrocosm showing the elemental spheres of terra (earth), aqua (water), aer (air), and ignis (fire), [[Robert Fludd]], 1617]]
[[File:Fotothek df tg 0006472 Theosophie ^ Philosophie ^ Sonifikation ^ Musik.jpg|thumb|Segment of the macrocosm suck dick lolshowing the elemental spheres of terra (earth), aqua (water), aer (air), and ignis (fire), [[Robert Fludd]], 1617]]
'''Classical elements''' typically refer to the concepts in [[Classical Greece|Ancient Greece]], of [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Water (classical element)|water]], [[Air (classical element)|air]], [[Fire (classical element)|fire]], and [[Aether (classical element)|æther]], which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances.<ref name="Boyd2003">{{cite book |first=T.J.M. |last=Boyd |first2=J.J. |last2=Sanderson |year=2003 |title=The Physics of Plasmas |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521459129 |lccn=2002024654 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bAmqvuGTUJ4C&pg=PA1 |page=1}}</ref><ref name="Ball2004">{{cite book |first=P. |last=Ball |year=2004 |title=The Elements: A Very Short Introduction |series=Very Short Introductions |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780191578250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uaBczzC4wvIC&pg=PT33 |page=33}}</ref> Ancient cultures in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Babylonia]], [[Ancient Japan|Japan]], [[Tibet#Early history|Tibet]], and [[Ancient India|India]] had similar lists, sometimes referring in local languages to "air" as "wind" and the fifth element as "void". The Chinese [[Wu Xing]] system lists [[Wood (Wu Xing)|Wood]] ([[wiktionary:木|木]] ''mù''), [[Fire (Wu Xing)|Fire]] ([[wiktionary:火|火]] ''huǒ''), [[Earth (Wu Xing)|Earth]] ([[wiktionary:土|土]] ''tǔ''), [[Metal (Wu Xing)|Metal]] ([[wiktionary:金|金]] ''jīn''), and [[Water (Wu Xing)|Water]] ([[wiktionary:水|水]] ''shuǐ''), though these are described more as energies or transitions than as types of material.
'''Classical elements''' typically refer to the concepts in [[Classical Greece|Ancient Greece]], of [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Water (classical element)|water]], [[Air (classical element)|air]], [[Fire (classical element)|fire]], and [[Aether (classical element)|æther]], which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances.<ref name="Boyd2003">{{cite book |first=T.J.M. |last=Boyd |first2=J.J. |last2=Sanderson |year=2003 |title=The Physics of Plasmas |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521459129 |lccn=2002024654 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bAmqvuGTUJ4C&pg=PA1 |page=1}}</ref><ref name="Ball2004">{{cite book |first=P. |last=Ball |year=2004 |title=The Elements: A Very Short Introduction |series=Very Short Introductions |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780191578250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uaBczzC4wvIC&pg=PT33 |page=33}}</ref> Ancient cultures in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Babylonia]], [[Ancient Japan|Japan]], [[Tibet#Early history|Tibet]], and [[Ancient India|India]] had similar lists, sometimes referring in local languages to "air" as "wind" and the fifth element as "void". The Chinese [[Wu Xing]] system lists [[Wood (Wu Xing)|Wood]] ([[wiktionary:木|木]] ''mù''), [[Fire (Wu Xing)|Fire]] ([[wiktionary:火|火]] ''huǒ''), [[Earth (Wu Xing)|Earth]] ([[wiktionary:土|土]] ''tǔ''), [[Metal (Wu Xing)|Metal]] ([[wiktionary:金|金]] ''jīn''), and [[Water (Wu Xing)|Water]] ([[wiktionary:水|水]] ''shuǐ''), though these are described more as energies or transitions than as types of material.


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'{{redirect|4 Elements|the album by Chronic Future|4 Elements (album)}} {{classic element}} [[File:Fotothek df tg 0006472 Theosophie ^ Philosophie ^ Sonifikation ^ Musik.jpg|thumb|Segment of the macrocosm showing the elemental spheres of terra (earth), aqua (water), aer (air), and ignis (fire), [[Robert Fludd]], 1617]] '''Classical elements''' typically refer to the concepts in [[Classical Greece|Ancient Greece]], of [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Water (classical element)|water]], [[Air (classical element)|air]], [[Fire (classical element)|fire]], and [[Aether (classical element)|æther]], which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances.<ref name="Boyd2003">{{cite book |first=T.J.M. |last=Boyd |first2=J.J. |last2=Sanderson |year=2003 |title=The Physics of Plasmas |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521459129 |lccn=2002024654 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bAmqvuGTUJ4C&pg=PA1 |page=1}}</ref><ref name="Ball2004">{{cite book |first=P. |last=Ball |year=2004 |title=The Elements: A Very Short Introduction |series=Very Short Introductions |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780191578250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uaBczzC4wvIC&pg=PT33 |page=33}}</ref> Ancient cultures in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Babylonia]], [[Ancient Japan|Japan]], [[Tibet#Early history|Tibet]], and [[Ancient India|India]] had similar lists, sometimes referring in local languages to "air" as "wind" and the fifth element as "void". The Chinese [[Wu Xing]] system lists [[Wood (Wu Xing)|Wood]] ([[wiktionary:木|木]] ''mù''), [[Fire (Wu Xing)|Fire]] ([[wiktionary:火|火]] ''huǒ''), [[Earth (Wu Xing)|Earth]] ([[wiktionary:土|土]] ''tǔ''), [[Metal (Wu Xing)|Metal]] ([[wiktionary:金|金]] ''jīn''), and [[Water (Wu Xing)|Water]] ([[wiktionary:水|水]] ''shuǐ''), though these are described more as energies or transitions than as types of material. These different cultures and even individual philosophers had widely varying explanations concerning their attributes and how they related to observable phenomena as well as [[cosmology]]. Sometimes these theories overlapped with [[mythology]] and were personified in deities. Some of these interpretations included [[atomism]] (the idea of very small, indivisible portions of matter) but other interpretations considered the elements to be divisible into infinitely small pieces without changing their nature. While the classification of the material world by the ancient [[Mahābhūta|Indians]] and [[Ancient Greece#Science and technology|Greeks]] into Air, Earth, Fire and Water was more philosophical, during the [[Islamic Golden Age]] medieval middle eastern scientists used practical, experimental observation to classify materials.<ref name=Jim>''[[Science and Islam (documentary)|Science and Islam]]'', [[Jim Al-Khalili]]. [[BBC]], 2009</ref> In Europe, the Ancient Greek system of [[Aristotle]] evolved slightly into the [[#Medieval classic element systems|medieval system]], which for the first time in Europe became subject to experimental verification in the 1600s, during the [[Scientific Revolution]]. Centuries of empirical investigation have proven that all the ancient systems were incorrect explanations of the physical world. It is now known that [[atomic theory]] is a correct explanation, and that atoms can be classified into more than a hundred [[chemical element]]s such as [[oxygen]], [[iron]], and [[Mercury (element)|mercury]]. These elements form [[chemical compound]]s and [[mixtures]], and under different temperatures and pressures, these substances can adopt different [[states of matter]]. The most commonly observed states of [[solid]], [[liquid]], [[gas]], and [[Plasma (physics)|plasma]] share many attributes with the classical elements of earth, water, air, and fire, respectively, but it is now known that these states are due to similar behavior of different types of atoms at similar energy levels, and not due to containing a certain type of atom or a certain type of infinitely divisible substance or energy. ==Ancient times== {{anchor|Ancient classic element systems}} In classical thought, the four elements [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Water (classical element)|water]], [[Air (classical element)|air]], and [[Fire (classical element)|fire]] as proposed by [[Empedocles]] frequently occur; [[Aristotle]] added a fifth element, [[Aether (classical element)|aether]]; it has been called [[akasha]] in India and quintessence in Europe. The concept of the five elements formed a basis of analysis in both [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]]. In Hinduism, particularly in an [[Esotericism|esoteric]] context, the four states-of-matter describe matter, and a fifth element describes that which was beyond the material world. Similar lists existed in ancient [[China]] and [[Japan]]. In Buddhism the four great elements, to which two others are sometimes added, are not viewed as substances, but as categories of [[sensory experience]]. ===Egypt=== {{anchor|Classical elements in Egypt}} A Greek text called the ''Kore Kosmou'' ("Virgin of the World") ascribed to [[Hermes Trismegistus]] (associated with the Egyptian god [[Thoth]]), names the four elements fire, water, air, and earth. As described in this book: <blockquote>And Isis answer made: Of living things, my son, some are made friends with ''fire'', and some with ''water'', some with ''air'', and some with ''earth'', and some with two or three of these, and some with all. And, on the contrary, again some are made enemies of fire, and some of water, some of earth, and some of air, and some of two of them, and some of three, and some of all. For instance, son, the locust and all flies flee fire; the eagle and the hawk and all high-flying birds flee water; fish, air and earth; the snake avoids the open air. Whereas snakes and all creeping things love earth; all swimming things love water; winged things, air, of which they are the citizens; while those that fly still higher love the fire and have the habitat near it. Not that some of the animals as well do not love fire; for instance salamanders, for they even have their homes in it. It is because one or another of the elements doth form their bodies' outer envelope. Each [[soul]], accordingly, while it is in its body is weighted and constricted by these four.</blockquote> According to [[Galen]], these elements were used by [[Hippocrates]] in describing the [[human body]] with an association with the [[Humorism|four humours]]: yellow [[bile]] (fire), [[Melancholia|black bile]] (earth), [[blood]] (air), and [[phlegm]] (water). Medical care was flexible and primarily about helping the patient stay in or return to his/her own personal natural balanced state.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Medicine and Society in early Modern Europe|last=Lindemann|first=Mary|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-521-73256-7|location=|pages=19|quote=|via=}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} ===Cosmic elements in Babylonia=== In [[Babylonian mythology]], the cosmogony called ''[[Enûma Eliš]]'', a text written between the 18th and 16th centuries BC, involves four gods that we might see as personified cosmic elements: sea, earth, sky, wind. In other Babylonian texts these phenomena are considered independent of their association with deities,<ref>{{Cite journal|title=A consideration of Babylonian astronomy within the historiography of science|author=Francesca Rochberg|journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science|volume=33|issue=4|date=December 2002|pages=661–684|doi=10.1016/S0039-3681(02)00022-5|postscript=.}}</ref> though they are not treated as the component elements of the universe, as later in [[Empedocles]]. ===India=== ====Hinduism==== {{anchor|Classical elements in Hinduism}}<!-- This section is linked from [[Akasha]] --> {{anchor|The 5 Elements of Nature}} {{Main article|Mahābhūta|Guṇa}} The system of five elements are found in [[Vedas]], especially [[Ayurveda]], the ''[[Pancha Bhoota|pancha mahabhuta]]'', or "five great elements", of [[Hinduism]] are ''[[bhūmi]]'' ([[earth (classical element)|earth]]),<ref>{{cite book|title=India through the ages|last=Gopal|first=Madan|year= 1990| page= 78|editor=K.S. Gautam|publisher=Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India}}</ref> ''[[Ap (water)|ap]]'' or ''jala'' ([[water (classical element)|water]]), ''[[agni|tejas]]'' or ''[[agni]]'' ([[fire (classical element)|fire]]), ''[[maruts|marut]]'', ''vayu'' or ''pavan'' ([[air (classical element)|air]] or [[wind]]) and ''vyom'' or ''shunya'' (space or zero) or ''[[akash]]'' ([[Aether (classical element)|aether]] or [[Aether (classical element)|void]]).<ref>{{cite book|title=Natural Healing Through Ayurveda|author=Subhash Ranade|page=32|publisher = Motilal Banarsidass Publisher| isbn = 9788120812437}}</ref> They further suggest that all of creation, including the human body, is made up of these five essential elements and that upon death, the human body dissolves into these five elements of nature, thereby balancing the cycle of nature.<ref>{{cite book|title=South Indian Hindu Festivals and Traditions|pages=60–62|author=Maithily Jagannathan|publisher=Abhinav Publications}}</ref> The five elements are associated with the five senses, and act as the gross medium for the experience of sensations. The basest element, earth, created using all the other elements, can be perceived by all five senses&nbsp;– (i) hearing, (ii) touch, (iii) sight, (iv) taste, and (v) smell. The next higher element, water, has no odor but can be heard, felt, seen and tasted. Next comes fire, which can be heard, felt and seen. Air can be heard and felt. "Akasha" (aether) is beyond the senses of smell, taste, sight, and touch; it being accessible to the sense of hearing alone.<ref>{{cite book|title=Theatre and Consciousness: Explanatory Scope and Future Potential|author=Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe|publisher=Intellect Books|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zGy0UglRz6IC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Buddhism|author=Samir Nath|publisher=Sarup & Sons|page=653|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cojAfyr04UAC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Structural Depths of Indian Thought: Toward a Constructive Postmodern Ethics|page=81|publisher=SUNY Press|author=Poola Tirupati Raju}}</ref> ====Buddhism==== {{anchor|Buddhist elements}} {{Main article|Mahābhūta}} In the [[Pali literature]], the ''[[mahabhuta]]'' ("great elements") or ''catudhatu'' ("four elements") are earth, water, fire and air. In early Buddhism, the four elements are a basis for understanding suffering and for liberating oneself from suffering. The earliest Buddhist texts explain that the four primary material elements are the sensory qualities solidity, fluidity, temperature, and mobility; their characterization as earth, water, fire, and air, respectively, is declared an abstraction – instead of concentrating on the fact of material existence, one observes how a physical thing is sensed, felt, perceived.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lusthaus|first1=Dan|title=What is and isn't Yogācāra|url=http://www.acmuller.net/yogacara/articles/intro.html}}</ref> The [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]'s teaching regarding the four elements is to be understood as the base of all observation of real sensations rather than as a philosophy. The four properties are cohesion (water), solidity or inertia (earth), expansion or vibration (air) and heat or energy content (fire). He promulgated a categorization of mind and matter as composed of eight types of "[[kalapas]]" of which the four elements are primary and a secondary group of four are color, smell, taste, and nutriment which are derivative from the four primaries.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}} [[Thanissaro Bhikkhu]] (1997) renders an extract of [[Shakyamuni Buddha]]'s from Pali into English thus: {{quote|Just as a skilled butcher or his apprentice, having killed a cow, would sit at a crossroads cutting it up into pieces, the monk contemplates this very body&nbsp;– however it stands, however it is disposed&nbsp;– in terms of properties: 'In this body there is the earth property, the liquid property, the fire property, & the wind property.'<ref>{{cite web|title=''Kayagata-sati Sutta'' |author=[[Majjhima Nikaya]] |page=119 |url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.119.than.html |accessdate=2009-01-30}}</ref>}} Tibetan Buddhist medical literature speaks of the Panch [[Mahābhūta]] (five elements).<ref>{{Cite journal | last=Gurmet | first=Padma | title='Sowa - Rigpa' : Himalayan art of healing | journal=Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge | volume=3 | issue=2 | pages=212–218 | date=2004 | url=http://nopr.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/9345}}</ref> ===China=== {{anchor|Chinese elements}} {{Main article|Wu Xing}} {{Refimprove section|date=May 2009}} The Chinese had a somewhat different series of elements, namely Fire, Earth, Metal (literally gold), Water and Wood, which were understood as different types of energy in a state of constant interaction and flux with one another, rather than the Western notion of different kinds of material. Although it is usually translated as "element", the Chinese word ''xing'' literally means something like "changing states of being", "permutations" or "metamorphoses of being".<ref>{{cite book|author=Wolfram Eberhard |title=A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols |pages=93, 105, 309 |publisher=Routledge and Keegan Paul |location=London |year=1986|isbn=0-7102-0191-5}}</ref> In fact [[Sinologists]] cannot agree on any single translation. The Chinese elements were seen as ever changing and moving{{spaced ndash}}one translation of ''wu xing'' is simply "the five changes". The Wu Xing are chiefly an ancient mnemonic device for systems with five stages; hence the preferred translation of "movements", "phases" or "steps" over "elements." In the [[bagua]], [[Metal (Wu Xing)|metal]] is associated with the divination figure 兌 ''Duì'' (☱, the lake or marsh: 澤/泽 ''zé'') and with 乾 ''Qián'' (☰, the sky or heavens: 天 ''tiān''). [[Wood (Wu Xing)|Wood]] is associated with 巽 ''Xùn'' (☴, the wind: 風/风 ''fēng'') and with 震 ''Zhèn'' (☳, the arousing/thunder: 雷 ''léi''). In view of the durability of meteoric iron, metal came to be associated with the [[aether (classical element)|aether]], which is sometimes conflated with [[Stoicism|Stoic]] [[pneuma]], as both terms originally referred to air (the former being higher, brighter, more fiery or celestial and the latter being merely warmer, and thus [[vitalism|vital]] or [[abiogenesis|biogenetic]]). In [[Taoism]], ''[[qi]]'' functions similarly to pneuma in a prime matter (a basic principle of energetic transformation) that accounts for both biological and inanimate phenomena. In Chinese philosophy the universe consists of heaven and earth. The five major [[planet]]s are associated with and even named after the elements: [[Jupiter]] 木星 is Wood ([[wikt:木#Han character|木]]), [[Mars]] 火星 is Fire ([[wikt:火#Han character|火]]), [[Saturn]] 土星 is Earth ([[wikt:土#Han character|土]]), [[Venus]] 金星 is Metal ([[wikt:金#Han character|金]]), and [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] 水星 is Water ([[wikt:水#Han character|水]]). Also, the [[Moon]] represents [[Yin and yang|Yin]] ([[wikt:陰#Han character|陰]]), and the [[Sun]] 太陽 represents [[Yin and yang|Yang]] ([[wikt:陽#Han character|陽]]). Yin, Yang, and the five elements are associated with themes in the [[I Ching]], the oldest of Chinese classical texts which describes an ancient system of [[cosmology]] and [[philosophy]]. The five elements also play an important part in [[Chinese astrology]] and the Chinese form of [[geomancy]] known as [[Feng shui]]. The doctrine of five phases describes two cycles of balance, a generating or creation (生, shēng) cycle and an overcoming or destruction (克/剋, kè) cycle of interactions between the phases. ''Generating'' * Wood feeds fire; * Fire creates earth (ash); * Earth bears metal; * Metal collects water; * Water nourishes wood. ''Overcoming'' * Wood parts earth; * Earth absorbs water; * Water quenches fire; * Fire melts metal; * Metal chops wood. There are also two cycles of imbalance, an overacting cycle (cheng) and an insulting cycle (wu). ===Greece=== {{anchor|Classical elements in Greece}}<!-- This section is linked from [[Democritus]] --> <div style="font-size:80%;float:right;clear:left;margin-left:1em;"> {|align="center" class="toccolours" style="width:220px; float:center; margin:1em 1em 1em 1em;" | style="background:#c9b59d; text-align:center;" | '''Aristotelian elements and qualities''' |- | style="text-align:center;" | [[File:Four elements representation.svg|center|200px|Four Classical Elements]] {{clear}} ''Empedoclean elements'' {{clear}} [[File:Alchemy fire symbol.svg|20px]] [[Fire (classical element)|fire]] {{·}} [[File:Alchemy earth symbol.svg|20px]] [[Earth (classical element)|earth]] <br /> [[File:Alchemy water symbol.svg|20px]] [[Water (classical element)|water]] {{·}} [[File:Alchemy air symbol.svg|20px]] [[Air (classical element)|air]] |} </div> The [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] belief in five basic elements, these being earth (γῆ ''ge''), water (ὕδωρ ''hudor''), air (ἀήρ ''aer''), fire (πῦρ ''pur'') and aether (αἰθήρ ''aither''), dates from pre-Socratic times and persisted throughout the [[Middle Ages]] and into the [[Renaissance]], deeply influencing [[Europe]]an thought and culture. These five elements are sometimes associated with the five [[platonic solid]]s. [[Magna Graecia|Sicilian]] philosopher [[Empedocles]] (ca. 450 BC) proved (at least to his satisfaction) that air was a separate substance by observing that a bucket inverted in water did not become filled with water, a pocket of air remaining trapped inside.<ref>Russell, p. 72</ref> Prior to Empedocles, Greek philosophers had debated which substance was the primordial element from which everything else was made; [[Heraclitus]] championed fire, [[Thales]] supported water, and [[Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]] plumped for air.<ref>Russell, p. 61</ref> [[Anaximander]] argued that the primordial substance was not any of the known substances, but could be transformed into them, and they into each other.<ref>Russell, p. 46</ref> Empedocles was the first to propose four elements, fire, earth, air, and water.<ref>Russell, pp. 62, 75</ref> He called them the four "roots" (ῥιζὤματα, rhizōmata). Plato seems to have been the first to use the term "element (στοιχεῖον, ''stoicheion'')" in reference to air, fire, earth, and water.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plat.+Tim.+48b |author=Plato |title=Timaeus |at=48b }}</ref> The ancient Greek word for element, ''stoicheion'' (from ''stoicheo'', "to line up") meant "smallest division (of a sun-dial), a syllable", as the composing unit of an alphabet it could denote a letter and the smallest unit from which a word is formed. A similar alphabetic metaphor may be the origin of the equivalent Latin word ''elementum'' (from which the English word comes), possibly based on the names of the letters 'l', 'm', and 'n', though the validity of this idea is debated.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lehmann|first1=R.G.|editor1-last=de Voogt|editor1-first=A.|editor2-last=Quack|editor2-first=J.F.|title=The Idea of Writing: Writing Across Borders|date=2011|publisher=Brill|pages=15–16, note 8|chapter=27-30-22-26 - How many letters needs an alphabet?}}</ref> In his ''[[On Generation and Corruption]]'',<ref>τὸ μὲν γὰρ πῦρ θερμὸν καὶ ξηρόν, ὁ δ' ἀὴρ θερμὸν καὶ ὑγρόν (οἷον ἀτμὶς γὰρ ὁ ἀήρ), τὸ δ' ὕδωρ ψυχρὸν καὶ ὑγρόν, ἡ δὲ γῆ ψυχρὸν καὶ ξηρόν [http://el.wikisource.org/wiki/%CE%A0%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%AF_%CE%93%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%AD%CF%83%CE%B5%CF%89%CF%82_%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9_%CE%A6%CE%B8%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%AC%CF%82/2#.CE.9A.CE.B5.CF.86.CE.AC.CE.BB.CE.B1.CE.B9.CE.BF_3]</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Lloyd | first = G. E. R. | author-link = G. E. R. Lloyd | date = 1968 | title = Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of His Thought | publisher = Cambridge University Press | place = Cambridge | pages = 166–169 | isbn = 0-521-09456-9}}</ref> Aristotle related each of the four elements to two of the four sensible qualities: * [[Fire (classical element)|'''Fire''']] is both hot and dry. * [[Air (classical element)|'''Air''']] is both hot and wet (for air is like vapor, ἀτμὶς). * [[Water (classical element)|'''Water''']] is both cold and wet. * [[Earth (classical element)|'''Earth''']] is both cold and dry. A classic diagram has one square [[inscribed]] in the other, with the corners of one being the classical elements, and the corners of the other being the properties. The opposite corner is the opposite of these properties, "hot&nbsp;– cold" and "dry&nbsp;– wet". [[Aristotle]] added a fifth element, [[Aether (classical element)#Fifth element|aether]], as the quintessence, reasoning that whereas fire, earth, air, and water were earthly and corruptible, since no changes had been perceived in the heavenly regions, the [[star]]s cannot be made out of any of the four elements but must be made of a different, unchangeable, heavenly substance.<ref>{{cite book | last = Lloyd | first = G. E. R. | author-link = G. E. R. Lloyd | title=Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought | publisher = Cambridge University Press | place = Cambridge | year=1968 | pages=133–139 | isbn=0-521-09456-9}}</ref>{{clear|left}} The [[Neoplatonic]] philosopher, [[Proclus]], rejected Aristotle's theory relating the elements to the sensible qualities hot, cold, wet, and dry. He maintained that each of the elements has three properties. Fire is sharp, subtle, and mobile while its opposite, earth, is blunt, dense, and immobile; they are joined by the intermediate elements, air and water, in the following fashion:<ref>{{citation|author=Proclus|title=Commentary on Plato’s ''Timaeus'' | at= 3.38.1–3.39.28}}</ref> {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:240px; height:120px;" |- ! Fire | style="background: pink" | Sharp || style="background: pink" | Subtle || style="background: pink" | Mobile |- ! Air | style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: pink" | Subtle || style="background: pink" | Mobile |- ! Water | style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: lightgreen" | Dense || style="background: pink" | Mobile |- ! Earth | style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: lightgreen" | Dense || style="background: lightgreen" | Immobile |} ===Tibet=== {{anchor|Bön elements}} In [[Bön]] or ancient Tibetan philosophy, the five elemental processes of [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Water (classical element)|water]], [[Fire (classical element)|fire]], [[Air (classical element)|air]] and [[Void (classical element)|space]] are the essential materials of all existent [[phenomena]] or [[skandha|aggregate]]s. The elemental processes form the basis of the [[calendar]], [[astrology]], [[medicine]], [[psychology]] and are the foundation of the [[Spirituality|spiritual]] [[traditions]] of [[shamanism]], [[tantra]] and [[Dzogchen]]. [[Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche]] states that {{quote|physical properties are assigned to the elements: earth is solidity; water is cohesion; fire is temperature; air is motion; and space is the spatial dimension that accommodates the other four active elements. In addition, the elements are correlated to different emotions, temperaments, directions, colors, tastes, body types, illnesses, thinking styles, and character. From the five elements arise the five senses and the five fields of sensory experience; the five negative emotions and the five wisdoms; and the five extensions of the body. They are the five primary ''pranas'' or vital energies. They are the constituents of every physical, sensual, mental, and spiritual phenomenon.<ref>{{cite book|author=Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche |title=Healing with Form, Energy, and Light |page=1 |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Snow Lion Publications |isbn=1-55939-176-6 |year=2002}}</ref>}} The names of the elements are analogous to categorised experiential sensations of the natural world. The [[name]]s are [[symbol]]ic and key to their inherent qualities and/or modes of action by [[analogy]]. In [[Bön]] the elemental processes are fundamental [[metaphor]]s for working with external, internal and secret energetic forces. All five elemental processes in their essential purity are inherent in the [[mindstream]] and link the [[trikaya]] and are aspects of primordial energy. As [[Herbert V. Günther]] states: {{quote|Thus, bearing in mind that thought struggles incessantly against the treachery of language and that what we observe and describe is the observer himself, we may nonetheless proceed to investigate the successive phases in our becoming human beings. Throughout these phases, the experience (''das Erlebnis'') of ourselves as an intensity (imaged and felt as a "god", lha) setting up its own spatiality (imaged and felt as a "house" ''khang'') is present in various intensities of illumination that occur within ourselves as a "temple." A corollary of this Erlebnis is its light character manifesting itself in various "frequencies" or colors. This is to say, since we are beings of light we display this light in a multiplicity of nuances.<ref>{{cite book|author=Herber V. Günther |year=1996 |title=The Teachings of Padmasambhava |pages=115–116 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |publisher=E. J. Brill |edition=Hardcover}}</ref>}} In the above block quote the [[trikaya]] is encoded as: [[dharmakaya]] "god"; [[sambhogakaya]] "temple" and [[nirmanakaya]] "house". ==Medieval== ===Alchemy=== {{anchor|Elements in Medieval alchemy}} [[File:Fotothek df tg 0007129 Theosophie ^ Alchemie.jpg|thumb|Seventeenth century alchemical emblem showing the four Classical elements in the corners of the image, alongside the tria prima on the central triangle]] The elemental system used in Medieval [[alchemy]] was developed primarily by the [[Alchemy and chemistry in Islam|Persian alchemist]] [[Jābir ibn Hayyān]] (Geber).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Norris |first1=John A. |title=The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science |journal=Ambix |volume=53 |pages=43 |year=2006 |doi=10.1179/174582306X93183}}</ref> His system consisted of the four classical elements of air, earth, fire, and water, in addition to two philosophical elements: [[Sulfur|sulphur]], characterizing the principle of combustibility, "the stone which burns"; and [[Mercury (element)|mercury]], characterizing the principle of metallic properties. They were seen by early alchemists as idealized expressions of irreducibile components of the [[universe]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Clulee |first=Nicholas H. |title=John Dee's Natural Philosophy |publisher=Routledge |year=1988 |pages=97 |isbn=978-0-415-00625-5}}</ref> and are of larger consideration within philosophical alchemy. The three metallic principles—sulphur to flammability or combustion, mercury to volatility and stability, and [[Salt (chemistry)|salt]] to solidity—became the ''tria prima'' of the Swiss alchemist [[Paracelsus]]. He reasoned that Aristotle’s four element theory appeared in bodies as three principles. Paracelsus saw these principles as fundamental and justified them by recourse to the description of how wood burns in fire. Mercury included the cohesive principle, so that when it left in smoke the wood fell apart. Smoke described the volatility (the mercurial principle), the heat-giving flames described flammability (sulphur), and the remnant ash described solidity (salt).<ref>Strathern, 2000. Page 79.</ref> ===Islamic=== {{expand section|date=December 2016}} The [[Islamic philosophy|Islamic philosophers]] [[al-Kindi]], [[Avicenna]] and [[Fakhr al-Din al-Razi]] connected the four elements with the four natures heat and cold (the active force), and dryness and moisture (the recipients).<ref name = "rafati">Rafati, Vahid. ''[http://bahai-library.com/rafati_hikmat_agents_patients Lawh-i-Hikmat: The Two Agents and the Two Patients]''. `Andalib, vol. 5, no. 19, pp. 29-38.</ref> ===Japan=== {{anchor|Japanese elements}} {{Main article|Five elements (Japanese philosophy)}} [[Japan]]ese traditions use a set of elements called the {{lang|ja|五大}} (''godai'', literally "five great"). These five are [[earth (classical element)|earth]], [[water (classical element)|water]], [[fire (classical element)|fire]], [[wind (classical element)|wind]]/air, and [[Aether (classical element)|void]]. These came from Indian [[Vastu shastra]] philosophy and Buddhist beliefs; in addition, the classical Chinese elements ({{lang|ja|五行}}, ''wu xing'') are also prominent in Japanese culture, especially to the influential Neo-Confucianists during the medieval [[Edo period]]. * '''Earth''' represented things that were solid. * '''Water''' represented things that were liquid. * '''Fire''' represented things that destroy. * '''Air''' represented things that moved. * '''Void''' or '''Sky/Heaven''' represented things not of our everyday life. ==Western astrology== {{anchor|Elements in western astrology and tarot}} {{Main article|Astrology and the classical elements}} Western [[astrology]] uses the four [[astrology and the classical elements|classical elements]] in connection with [[natal chart|astrological chart]]s and [[horoscopes]]. The twelve [[Astrological signs|signs]] of the [[zodiac]] are divided into the four elements: [[Fire signs]] are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, [[Earth signs]] are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, [[Air signs]] are Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, and [[Water signs]] are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.<ref>{{cite book | author=Tester, S. J. | title=A History of Western Astrology | year=1999 | publisher=Boydell & Brewer |pages=59–61, 94}}</ref> ==Modern {{anchor|Modern elements}}== {{See also|Chemical element#History}} The [[Physics (Aristotle)|Aristotelian tradition]] and medieval [[Alchemy]] eventually gave rise to modern scientific theories and new taxonomies. By the time of [[Antoine Lavoisier]], for example, a [[History of the periodic table#Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier|list of elements]] would no longer refer to classical elements.<ref>[http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/lavtable.html Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794)], in [http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/index.html Classic Chemistry], compiled by Carmen Giunta</ref> Some modern scientists see a parallel between the classical elements and the four [[state of matter|states of matter]]: [[solid]], [[liquid]], [[gas]] and weakly ionized [[Plasma (physics)|plasma]].<ref>{{ Citation | last = Kikuchi | first = Mitsuru | date = 2011 | title = Frontiers in Fusion Research: Physics and Fusion | publisher = Springer Science and Business Media | place = London | page = 12 | isbn = 978-1-84996-411-1 | quote = Empedocles (495–435 BC) proposed that the world was made of earth, water, air, and fire, which may correspond to solid, liquid, gas, and weakly ionized plasma. Surprisingly, this idea may catch the essence.}}</ref> Modern science recognizes classes of [[elementary particle]]s which have no substructure (or rather, particles that are not made of other particles) and [[composite particle]]s having substructure (particles made of other particles). ==See also== {{Wikipedia books|Classical elements}} *[[Alchemy]] *[[Classical elements in popular culture]] *[[Elemental|Elemental (Renaissance alchemy)]] *[[Wu Xing|Five elements (Chinese ''wǔ xíng'')]] *[[Mahabhuta|Five elements (Hindu ''mahābhūta'') and Four elements (Buddhist ''mahābhūtāni'')]] *[[Five elements (Japanese philosophy)|Five elements (Japanese ''godai'')]] *[[Arche|First principle (Pre-Socratic ''arche'' and Aristotelian substratum)]] *[[Qi|First principle (Chinese ''qì'' and Japanese ''ki'')]] *[[Fundamental interaction#Overview of the fundamental Interaction|Overview of the fundamental interaction]] *[[Prima materia|First principle (Prima materia in Alchemy)]] *[[Periodic table|Periodic table of the elements (Modern science)]] *[[Philosopher's stone|Philosopher's stone (Middle Ages and Renaissance alchemy)]] *[[Phlogiston theory|Phlogiston theory (History of science)]] *[[Fundamental interaction|Fundamental interaction (Quantum Mechanics)]] *[[Table of correspondences|Table of correspondences (Magic and the occult)]] ==Notes== {{Reflist}} ==References== * [[Bertrand Russell|Russell, Bertrand]] (1995) ''History of Western Philosophy'', Routledge, ISBN 0-415-07854-7. * Strathern, Paul (2000). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=qCzoF9sjTkAC Mendeleyev's Dream&nbsp;– the Quest for the Elements]''. New York: Berkley Books. ==External links== {{Commons category|Four elements}} *[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/khin/wheel231.html Section on 4 elements in Buddhism] *[http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/woe/woe07.htm The Kore Kosmou or Virgin of the World]. www.sacred-texts.com for Ancient Egypt Elements {{Alchemy}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Classical Element}} [[Category:Classical elements| ]] [[Category:Natural philosophy]] [[Category:Esoteric cosmology]] [[Category:History of astrology]] [[Category:Numerology]] [[Category:Technical factors of astrology]] [[Category:Theories in ancient Greek philosophy]] [[Category:Theories in ancient Chinese philosophy]] [[Category:Theories in ancient Indian philosophy]] [[Category:Alchemy]]'
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'{{redirect|4 Elements|the album by Chronic Future|4 Elements (album)}} {{classic element}} [[File:Fotothek df tg 0006472 Theosophie ^ Philosophie ^ Sonifikation ^ Musik.jpg|thumb|Segment of the macrocosm suck dick lolshowing the elemental spheres of terra (earth), aqua (water), aer (air), and ignis (fire), [[Robert Fludd]], 1617]] '''Classical elements''' typically refer to the concepts in [[Classical Greece|Ancient Greece]], of [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Water (classical element)|water]], [[Air (classical element)|air]], [[Fire (classical element)|fire]], and [[Aether (classical element)|æther]], which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances.<ref name="Boyd2003">{{cite book |first=T.J.M. |last=Boyd |first2=J.J. |last2=Sanderson |year=2003 |title=The Physics of Plasmas |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521459129 |lccn=2002024654 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bAmqvuGTUJ4C&pg=PA1 |page=1}}</ref><ref name="Ball2004">{{cite book |first=P. |last=Ball |year=2004 |title=The Elements: A Very Short Introduction |series=Very Short Introductions |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780191578250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uaBczzC4wvIC&pg=PT33 |page=33}}</ref> Ancient cultures in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Babylonia]], [[Ancient Japan|Japan]], [[Tibet#Early history|Tibet]], and [[Ancient India|India]] had similar lists, sometimes referring in local languages to "air" as "wind" and the fifth element as "void". The Chinese [[Wu Xing]] system lists [[Wood (Wu Xing)|Wood]] ([[wiktionary:木|木]] ''mù''), [[Fire (Wu Xing)|Fire]] ([[wiktionary:火|火]] ''huǒ''), [[Earth (Wu Xing)|Earth]] ([[wiktionary:土|土]] ''tǔ''), [[Metal (Wu Xing)|Metal]] ([[wiktionary:金|金]] ''jīn''), and [[Water (Wu Xing)|Water]] ([[wiktionary:水|水]] ''shuǐ''), though these are described more as energies or transitions than as types of material. These different cultures and even individual philosophers had widely varying explanations concerning their attributes and how they related to observable phenomena as well as [[cosmology]]. Sometimes these theories overlapped with [[mythology]] and were personified in deities. Some of these interpretations included [[atomism]] (the idea of very small, indivisible portions of matter) but other interpretations considered the elements to be divisible into infinitely small pieces without changing their nature. While the classification of the material world by the ancient [[Mahābhūta|Indians]] and [[Ancient Greece#Science and technology|Greeks]] into Air, Earth, Fire and Water was more philosophical, during the [[Islamic Golden Age]] medieval middle eastern scientists used practical, experimental observation to classify materials.<ref name=Jim>''[[Science and Islam (documentary)|Science and Islam]]'', [[Jim Al-Khalili]]. [[BBC]], 2009</ref> In Europe, the Ancient Greek system of [[Aristotle]] evolved slightly into the [[#Medieval classic element systems|medieval system]], which for the first time in Europe became subject to experimental verification in the 1600s, during the [[Scientific Revolution]]. Centuries of empirical investigation have proven that all the ancient systems were incorrect explanations of the physical world. It is now known that [[atomic theory]] is a correct explanation, and that atoms can be classified into more than a hundred [[chemical element]]s such as [[oxygen]], [[iron]], and [[Mercury (element)|mercury]]. These elements form [[chemical compound]]s and [[mixtures]], and under different temperatures and pressures, these substances can adopt different [[states of matter]]. The most commonly observed states of [[solid]], [[liquid]], [[gas]], and [[Plasma (physics)|plasma]] share many attributes with the classical elements of earth, water, air, and fire, respectively, but it is now known that these states are due to similar behavior of different types of atoms at similar energy levels, and not due to containing a certain type of atom or a certain type of infinitely divisible substance or energy. ==Ancient times== {{anchor|Ancient classic element systems}} In classical thought, the four elements [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Water (classical element)|water]], [[Air (classical element)|air]], and [[Fire (classical element)|fire]] as proposed by [[Empedocles]] frequently occur; [[Aristotle]] added a fifth element, [[Aether (classical element)|aether]]; it has been called [[akasha]] in India and quintessence in Europe. The concept of the five elements formed a basis of analysis in both [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]]. In Hinduism, particularly in an [[Esotericism|esoteric]] context, the four states-of-matter describe matter, and a fifth element describes that which was beyond the material world. Similar lists existed in ancient [[China]] and [[Japan]]. In Buddhism the four great elements, to which two others are sometimes added, are not viewed as substances, but as categories of [[sensory experience]]. ===Egypt=== {{anchor|Classical elements in Egypt}} A Greek text called the ''Kore Kosmou'' ("Virgin of the World") ascribed to [[Hermes Trismegistus]] (associated with the Egyptian god [[Thoth]]), names the four elements fire, water, air, and earth. As described in this book: <blockquote>And Isis answer made: Of living things, my son, some are made friends with ''fire'', and some with ''water'', some with ''air'', and some with ''earth'', and some with two or three of these, and some with all. And, on the contrary, again some are made enemies of fire, and some of water, some of earth, and some of air, and some of two of them, and some of three, and some of all. For instance, son, the locust and all flies flee fire; the eagle and the hawk and all high-flying birds flee water; fish, air and earth; the snake avoids the open air. Whereas snakes and all creeping things love earth; all swimming things love water; winged things, air, of which they are the citizens; while those that fly still higher love the fire and have the habitat near it. Not that some of the animals as well do not love fire; for instance salamanders, for they even have their homes in it. It is because one or another of the elements doth form their bodies' outer envelope. Each [[soul]], accordingly, while it is in its body is weighted and constricted by these four.</blockquote> According to [[Galen]], these elements were used by [[Hippocrates]] in describing the [[human body]] with an association with the [[Humorism|four humours]]: yellow [[bile]] (fire), [[Melancholia|black bile]] (earth), [[blood]] (air), and [[phlegm]] (water). Medical care was flexible and primarily about helping the patient stay in or return to his/her own personal natural balanced state.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Medicine and Society in early Modern Europe|last=Lindemann|first=Mary|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-521-73256-7|location=|pages=19|quote=|via=}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} ===Cosmic elements in Babylonia=== In [[Babylonian mythology]], the cosmogony called ''[[Enûma Eliš]]'', a text written between the 18th and 16th centuries BC, involves four gods that we might see as personified cosmic elements: sea, earth, sky, wind. In other Babylonian texts these phenomena are considered independent of their association with deities,<ref>{{Cite journal|title=A consideration of Babylonian astronomy within the historiography of science|author=Francesca Rochberg|journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science|volume=33|issue=4|date=December 2002|pages=661–684|doi=10.1016/S0039-3681(02)00022-5|postscript=.}}</ref> though they are not treated as the component elements of the universe, as later in [[Empedocles]]. ===India=== ====Hinduism==== {{anchor|Classical elements in Hinduism}}<!-- This section is linked from [[Akasha]] --> {{anchor|The 5 Elements of Nature}} {{Main article|Mahābhūta|Guṇa}} The system of five elements are found in [[Vedas]], especially [[Ayurveda]], the ''[[Pancha Bhoota|pancha mahabhuta]]'', or "five great elements", of [[Hinduism]] are ''[[bhūmi]]'' ([[earth (classical element)|earth]]),<ref>{{cite book|title=India through the ages|last=Gopal|first=Madan|year= 1990| page= 78|editor=K.S. Gautam|publisher=Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India}}</ref> ''[[Ap (water)|ap]]'' or ''jala'' ([[water (classical element)|water]]), ''[[agni|tejas]]'' or ''[[agni]]'' ([[fire (classical element)|fire]]), ''[[maruts|marut]]'', ''vayu'' or ''pavan'' ([[air (classical element)|air]] or [[wind]]) and ''vyom'' or ''shunya'' (space or zero) or ''[[akash]]'' ([[Aether (classical element)|aether]] or [[Aether (classical element)|void]]).<ref>{{cite book|title=Natural Healing Through Ayurveda|author=Subhash Ranade|page=32|publisher = Motilal Banarsidass Publisher| isbn = 9788120812437}}</ref> They further suggest that all of creation, including the human body, is made up of these five essential elements and that upon death, the human body dissolves into these five elements of nature, thereby balancing the cycle of nature.<ref>{{cite book|title=South Indian Hindu Festivals and Traditions|pages=60–62|author=Maithily Jagannathan|publisher=Abhinav Publications}}</ref> The five elements are associated with the five senses, and act as the gross medium for the experience of sensations. The basest element, earth, created using all the other elements, can be perceived by all five senses&nbsp;– (i) hearing, (ii) touch, (iii) sight, (iv) taste, and (v) smell. The next higher element, water, has no odor but can be heard, felt, seen and tasted. Next comes fire, which can be heard, felt and seen. Air can be heard and felt. "Akasha" (aether) is beyond the senses of smell, taste, sight, and touch; it being accessible to the sense of hearing alone.<ref>{{cite book|title=Theatre and Consciousness: Explanatory Scope and Future Potential|author=Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe|publisher=Intellect Books|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zGy0UglRz6IC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Buddhism|author=Samir Nath|publisher=Sarup & Sons|page=653|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cojAfyr04UAC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Structural Depths of Indian Thought: Toward a Constructive Postmodern Ethics|page=81|publisher=SUNY Press|author=Poola Tirupati Raju}}</ref> ====Buddhism==== {{anchor|Buddhist elements}} {{Main article|Mahābhūta}} In the [[Pali literature]], the ''[[mahabhuta]]'' ("great elements") or ''catudhatu'' ("four elements") are earth, water, fire and air. In early Buddhism, the four elements are a basis for understanding suffering and for liberating oneself from suffering. The earliest Buddhist texts explain that the four primary material elements are the sensory qualities solidity, fluidity, temperature, and mobility; their characterization as earth, water, fire, and air, respectively, is declared an abstraction – instead of concentrating on the fact of material existence, one observes how a physical thing is sensed, felt, perceived.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lusthaus|first1=Dan|title=What is and isn't Yogācāra|url=http://www.acmuller.net/yogacara/articles/intro.html}}</ref> The [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]'s teaching regarding the four elements is to be understood as the base of all observation of real sensations rather than as a philosophy. The four properties are cohesion (water), solidity or inertia (earth), expansion or vibration (air) and heat or energy content (fire). He promulgated a categorization of mind and matter as composed of eight types of "[[kalapas]]" of which the four elements are primary and a secondary group of four are color, smell, taste, and nutriment which are derivative from the four primaries.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}} [[Thanissaro Bhikkhu]] (1997) renders an extract of [[Shakyamuni Buddha]]'s from Pali into English thus: {{quote|Just as a skilled butcher or his apprentice, having killed a cow, would sit at a crossroads cutting it up into pieces, the monk contemplates this very body&nbsp;– however it stands, however it is disposed&nbsp;– in terms of properties: 'In this body there is the earth property, the liquid property, the fire property, & the wind property.'<ref>{{cite web|title=''Kayagata-sati Sutta'' |author=[[Majjhima Nikaya]] |page=119 |url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.119.than.html |accessdate=2009-01-30}}</ref>}} Tibetan Buddhist medical literature speaks of the Panch [[Mahābhūta]] (five elements).<ref>{{Cite journal | last=Gurmet | first=Padma | title='Sowa - Rigpa' : Himalayan art of healing | journal=Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge | volume=3 | issue=2 | pages=212–218 | date=2004 | url=http://nopr.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/9345}}</ref> ===China=== {{anchor|Chinese elements}} {{Main article|Wu Xing}} {{Refimprove section|date=May 2009}} The Chinese had a somewhat different series of elements, namely Fire, Earth, Metal (literally gold), Water and Wood, which were understood as different types of energy in a state of constant interaction and flux with one another, rather than the Western notion of different kinds of material. Although it is usually translated as "element", the Chinese word ''xing'' literally means something like "changing states of being", "permutations" or "metamorphoses of being".<ref>{{cite book|author=Wolfram Eberhard |title=A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols |pages=93, 105, 309 |publisher=Routledge and Keegan Paul |location=London |year=1986|isbn=0-7102-0191-5}}</ref> In fact [[Sinologists]] cannot agree on any single translation. The Chinese elements were seen as ever changing and moving{{spaced ndash}}one translation of ''wu xing'' is simply "the five changes". The Wu Xing are chiefly an ancient mnemonic device for systems with five stages; hence the preferred translation of "movements", "phases" or "steps" over "elements." In the [[bagua]], [[Metal (Wu Xing)|metal]] is associated with the divination figure 兌 ''Duì'' (☱, the lake or marsh: 澤/泽 ''zé'') and with 乾 ''Qián'' (☰, the sky or heavens: 天 ''tiān''). [[Wood (Wu Xing)|Wood]] is associated with 巽 ''Xùn'' (☴, the wind: 風/风 ''fēng'') and with 震 ''Zhèn'' (☳, the arousing/thunder: 雷 ''léi''). In view of the durability of meteoric iron, metal came to be associated with the [[aether (classical element)|aether]], which is sometimes conflated with [[Stoicism|Stoic]] [[pneuma]], as both terms originally referred to air (the former being higher, brighter, more fiery or celestial and the latter being merely warmer, and thus [[vitalism|vital]] or [[abiogenesis|biogenetic]]). In [[Taoism]], ''[[qi]]'' functions similarly to pneuma in a prime matter (a basic principle of energetic transformation) that accounts for both biological and inanimate phenomena. In Chinese philosophy the universe consists of heaven and earth. The five major [[planet]]s are associated with and even named after the elements: [[Jupiter]] 木星 is Wood ([[wikt:木#Han character|木]]), [[Mars]] 火星 is Fire ([[wikt:火#Han character|火]]), [[Saturn]] 土星 is Earth ([[wikt:土#Han character|土]]), [[Venus]] 金星 is Metal ([[wikt:金#Han character|金]]), and [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] 水星 is Water ([[wikt:水#Han character|水]]). Also, the [[Moon]] represents [[Yin and yang|Yin]] ([[wikt:陰#Han character|陰]]), and the [[Sun]] 太陽 represents [[Yin and yang|Yang]] ([[wikt:陽#Han character|陽]]). Yin, Yang, and the five elements are associated with themes in the [[I Ching]], the oldest of Chinese classical texts which describes an ancient system of [[cosmology]] and [[philosophy]]. The five elements also play an important part in [[Chinese astrology]] and the Chinese form of [[geomancy]] known as [[Feng shui]]. The doctrine of five phases describes two cycles of balance, a generating or creation (生, shēng) cycle and an overcoming or destruction (克/剋, kè) cycle of interactions between the phases. ''Generating'' * Wood feeds fire; * Fire creates earth (ash); * Earth bears metal; * Metal collects water; * Water nourishes wood. ''Overcoming'' * Wood parts earth; * Earth absorbs water; * Water quenches fire; * Fire melts metal; * Metal chops wood. There are also two cycles of imbalance, an overacting cycle (cheng) and an insulting cycle (wu). ===Greece=== {{anchor|Classical elements in Greece}}<!-- This section is linked from [[Democritus]] --> <div style="font-size:80%;float:right;clear:left;margin-left:1em;"> {|align="center" class="toccolours" style="width:220px; float:center; margin:1em 1em 1em 1em;" | style="background:#c9b59d; text-align:center;" | '''Aristotelian elements and qualities''' |- | style="text-align:center;" | [[File:Four elements representation.svg|center|200px|Four Classical Elements]] {{clear}} ''Empedoclean elements'' {{clear}} [[File:Alchemy fire symbol.svg|20px]] [[Fire (classical element)|fire]] {{·}} [[File:Alchemy earth symbol.svg|20px]] [[Earth (classical element)|earth]] <br /> [[File:Alchemy water symbol.svg|20px]] [[Water (classical element)|water]] {{·}} [[File:Alchemy air symbol.svg|20px]] [[Air (classical element)|air]] |} </div> The [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] belief in five basic elements, these being earth (γῆ ''ge''), water (ὕδωρ ''hudor''), air (ἀήρ ''aer''), fire (πῦρ ''pur'') and aether (αἰθήρ ''aither''), dates from pre-Socratic times and persisted throughout the [[Middle Ages]] and into the [[Renaissance]], deeply influencing [[Europe]]an thought and culture. These five elements are sometimes associated with the five [[platonic solid]]s. [[Magna Graecia|Sicilian]] philosopher [[Empedocles]] (ca. 450 BC) proved (at least to his satisfaction) that air was a separate substance by observing that a bucket inverted in water did not become filled with water, a pocket of air remaining trapped inside.<ref>Russell, p. 72</ref> Prior to Empedocles, Greek philosophers had debated which substance was the primordial element from which everything else was made; [[Heraclitus]] championed fire, [[Thales]] supported water, and [[Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]] plumped for air.<ref>Russell, p. 61</ref> [[Anaximander]] argued that the primordial substance was not any of the known substances, but could be transformed into them, and they into each other.<ref>Russell, p. 46</ref> Empedocles was the first to propose four elements, fire, earth, air, and water.<ref>Russell, pp. 62, 75</ref> He called them the four "roots" (ῥιζὤματα, rhizōmata). Plato seems to have been the first to use the term "element (στοιχεῖον, ''stoicheion'')" in reference to air, fire, earth, and water.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plat.+Tim.+48b |author=Plato |title=Timaeus |at=48b }}</ref> The ancient Greek word for element, ''stoicheion'' (from ''stoicheo'', "to line up") meant "smallest division (of a sun-dial), a syllable", as the composing unit of an alphabet it could denote a letter and the smallest unit from which a word is formed. A similar alphabetic metaphor may be the origin of the equivalent Latin word ''elementum'' (from which the English word comes), possibly based on the names of the letters 'l', 'm', and 'n', though the validity of this idea is debated.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lehmann|first1=R.G.|editor1-last=de Voogt|editor1-first=A.|editor2-last=Quack|editor2-first=J.F.|title=The Idea of Writing: Writing Across Borders|date=2011|publisher=Brill|pages=15–16, note 8|chapter=27-30-22-26 - How many letters needs an alphabet?}}</ref> In his ''[[On Generation and Corruption]]'',<ref>τὸ μὲν γὰρ πῦρ θερμὸν καὶ ξηρόν, ὁ δ' ἀὴρ θερμὸν καὶ ὑγρόν (οἷον ἀτμὶς γὰρ ὁ ἀήρ), τὸ δ' ὕδωρ ψυχρὸν καὶ ὑγρόν, ἡ δὲ γῆ ψυχρὸν καὶ ξηρόν [http://el.wikisource.org/wiki/%CE%A0%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%AF_%CE%93%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%AD%CF%83%CE%B5%CF%89%CF%82_%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9_%CE%A6%CE%B8%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%AC%CF%82/2#.CE.9A.CE.B5.CF.86.CE.AC.CE.BB.CE.B1.CE.B9.CE.BF_3]</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Lloyd | first = G. E. R. | author-link = G. E. R. Lloyd | date = 1968 | title = Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of His Thought | publisher = Cambridge University Press | place = Cambridge | pages = 166–169 | isbn = 0-521-09456-9}}</ref> Aristotle related each of the four elements to two of the four sensible qualities: * [[Fire (classical element)|'''Fire''']] is both hot and dry. * [[Air (classical element)|'''Air''']] is both hot and wet (for air is like vapor, ἀτμὶς). * [[Water (classical element)|'''Water''']] is both cold and wet. * [[Earth (classical element)|'''Earth''']] is both cold and dry. A classic diagram has one square [[inscribed]] in the other, with the corners of one being the classical elements, and the corners of the other being the properties. The opposite corner is the opposite of these properties, "hot&nbsp;– cold" and "dry&nbsp;– wet". [[Aristotle]] added a fifth element, [[Aether (classical element)#Fifth element|aether]], as the quintessence, reasoning that whereas fire, earth, air, and water were earthly and corruptible, since no changes had been perceived in the heavenly regions, the [[star]]s cannot be made out of any of the four elements but must be made of a different, unchangeable, heavenly substance.<ref>{{cite book | last = Lloyd | first = G. E. R. | author-link = G. E. R. Lloyd | title=Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought | publisher = Cambridge University Press | place = Cambridge | year=1968 | pages=133–139 | isbn=0-521-09456-9}}</ref>{{clear|left}} The [[Neoplatonic]] philosopher, [[Proclus]], rejected Aristotle's theory relating the elements to the sensible qualities hot, cold, wet, and dry. He maintained that each of the elements has three properties. Fire is sharp, subtle, and mobile while its opposite, earth, is blunt, dense, and immobile; they are joined by the intermediate elements, air and water, in the following fashion:<ref>{{citation|author=Proclus|title=Commentary on Plato’s ''Timaeus'' | at= 3.38.1–3.39.28}}</ref> {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:240px; height:120px;" |- ! Fire | style="background: pink" | Sharp || style="background: pink" | Subtle || style="background: pink" | Mobile |- ! Air | style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: pink" | Subtle || style="background: pink" | Mobile |- ! Water | style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: lightgreen" | Dense || style="background: pink" | Mobile |- ! Earth | style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: lightgreen" | Dense || style="background: lightgreen" | Immobile |} ===Tibet=== {{anchor|Bön elements}} In [[Bön]] or ancient Tibetan philosophy, the five elemental processes of [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Water (classical element)|water]], [[Fire (classical element)|fire]], [[Air (classical element)|air]] and [[Void (classical element)|space]] are the essential materials of all existent [[phenomena]] or [[skandha|aggregate]]s. The elemental processes form the basis of the [[calendar]], [[astrology]], [[medicine]], [[psychology]] and are the foundation of the [[Spirituality|spiritual]] [[traditions]] of [[shamanism]], [[tantra]] and [[Dzogchen]]. [[Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche]] states that {{quote|physical properties are assigned to the elements: earth is solidity; water is cohesion; fire is temperature; air is motion; and space is the spatial dimension that accommodates the other four active elements. In addition, the elements are correlated to different emotions, temperaments, directions, colors, tastes, body types, illnesses, thinking styles, and character. From the five elements arise the five senses and the five fields of sensory experience; the five negative emotions and the five wisdoms; and the five extensions of the body. They are the five primary ''pranas'' or vital energies. They are the constituents of every physical, sensual, mental, and spiritual phenomenon.<ref>{{cite book|author=Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche |title=Healing with Form, Energy, and Light |page=1 |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Snow Lion Publications |isbn=1-55939-176-6 |year=2002}}</ref>}} The names of the elements are analogous to categorised experiential sensations of the natural world. The [[name]]s are [[symbol]]ic and key to their inherent qualities and/or modes of action by [[analogy]]. In [[Bön]] the elemental processes are fundamental [[metaphor]]s for working with external, internal and secret energetic forces. All five elemental processes in their essential purity are inherent in the [[mindstream]] and link the [[trikaya]] and are aspects of primordial energy. As [[Herbert V. Günther]] states: {{quote|Thus, bearing in mind that thought struggles incessantly against the treachery of language and that what we observe and describe is the observer himself, we may nonetheless proceed to investigate the successive phases in our becoming human beings. Throughout these phases, the experience (''das Erlebnis'') of ourselves as an intensity (imaged and felt as a "god", lha) setting up its own spatiality (imaged and felt as a "house" ''khang'') is present in various intensities of illumination that occur within ourselves as a "temple." A corollary of this Erlebnis is its light character manifesting itself in various "frequencies" or colors. This is to say, since we are beings of light we display this light in a multiplicity of nuances.<ref>{{cite book|author=Herber V. Günther |year=1996 |title=The Teachings of Padmasambhava |pages=115–116 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |publisher=E. J. Brill |edition=Hardcover}}</ref>}} In the above block quote the [[trikaya]] is encoded as: [[dharmakaya]] "god"; [[sambhogakaya]] "temple" and [[nirmanakaya]] "house". ==Medieval== ===Alchemy=== {{anchor|Elements in Medieval alchemy}} [[File:Fotothek df tg 0007129 Theosophie ^ Alchemie.jpg|thumb|Seventeenth century alchemical emblem showing the four Classical elements in the corners of the image, alongside the tria prima on the central triangle]] The elemental system used in Medieval [[alchemy]] was developed primarily by the [[Alchemy and chemistry in Islam|Persian alchemist]] [[Jābir ibn Hayyān]] (Geber).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Norris |first1=John A. |title=The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science |journal=Ambix |volume=53 |pages=43 |year=2006 |doi=10.1179/174582306X93183}}</ref> His system consisted of the four classical elements of air, earth, fire, and water, in addition to two philosophical elements: [[Sulfur|sulphur]], characterizing the principle of combustibility, "the stone which burns"; and [[Mercury (element)|mercury]], characterizing the principle of metallic properties. They were seen by early alchemists as idealized expressions of irreducibile components of the [[universe]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Clulee |first=Nicholas H. |title=John Dee's Natural Philosophy |publisher=Routledge |year=1988 |pages=97 |isbn=978-0-415-00625-5}}</ref> and are of larger consideration within philosophical alchemy. The three metallic principles—sulphur to flammability or combustion, mercury to volatility and stability, and [[Salt (chemistry)|salt]] to solidity—became the ''tria prima'' of the Swiss alchemist [[Paracelsus]]. He reasoned that Aristotle’s four element theory appeared in bodies as three principles. Paracelsus saw these principles as fundamental and justified them by recourse to the description of how wood burns in fire. Mercury included the cohesive principle, so that when it left in smoke the wood fell apart. Smoke described the volatility (the mercurial principle), the heat-giving flames described flammability (sulphur), and the remnant ash described solidity (salt).<ref>Strathern, 2000. Page 79.</ref> ===Islamic=== {{expand section|date=December 2016}} The [[Islamic philosophy|Islamic philosophers]] [[al-Kindi]], [[Avicenna]] and [[Fakhr al-Din al-Razi]] connected the four elements with the four natures heat and cold (the active force), and dryness and moisture (the recipients).<ref name = "rafati">Rafati, Vahid. ''[http://bahai-library.com/rafati_hikmat_agents_patients Lawh-i-Hikmat: The Two Agents and the Two Patients]''. `Andalib, vol. 5, no. 19, pp. 29-38.</ref> ===Japan=== {{anchor|Japanese elements}} {{Main article|Five elements (Japanese philosophy)}} [[Japan]]ese traditions use a set of elements called the {{lang|ja|五大}} (''godai'', literally "five great"). These five are [[earth (classical element)|earth]], [[water (classical element)|water]], [[fire (classical element)|fire]], [[wind (classical element)|wind]]/air, and [[Aether (classical element)|void]]. These came from Indian [[Vastu shastra]] philosophy and Buddhist beliefs; in addition, the classical Chinese elements ({{lang|ja|五行}}, ''wu xing'') are also prominent in Japanese culture, especially to the influential Neo-Confucianists during the medieval [[Edo period]]. * '''Earth''' represented things that were solid. * '''Water''' represented things that were liquid. * '''Fire''' represented things that destroy. * '''Air''' represented things that moved. * '''Void''' or '''Sky/Heaven''' represented things not of our everyday life. ==Western astrology== {{anchor|Elements in western astrology and tarot}} {{Main article|Astrology and the classical elements}} Western [[astrology]] uses the four [[astrology and the classical elements|classical elements]] in connection with [[natal chart|astrological chart]]s and [[horoscopes]]. The twelve [[Astrological signs|signs]] of the [[zodiac]] are divided into the four elements: [[Fire signs]] are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, [[Earth signs]] are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, [[Air signs]] are Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, and [[Water signs]] are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.<ref>{{cite book | author=Tester, S. J. | title=A History of Western Astrology | year=1999 | publisher=Boydell & Brewer |pages=59–61, 94}}</ref> ==Modern {{anchor|Modern elements}}== {{See also|Chemical element#History}} The [[Physics (Aristotle)|Aristotelian tradition]] and medieval [[Alchemy]] eventually gave rise to modern scientific theories and new taxonomies. By the time of [[Antoine Lavoisier]], for example, a [[History of the periodic table#Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier|list of elements]] would no longer refer to classical elements.<ref>[http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/lavtable.html Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794)], in [http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/index.html Classic Chemistry], compiled by Carmen Giunta</ref> Some modern scientists see a parallel between the classical elements and the four [[state of matter|states of matter]]: [[solid]], [[liquid]], [[gas]] and weakly ionized [[Plasma (physics)|plasma]].<ref>{{ Citation | last = Kikuchi | first = Mitsuru | date = 2011 | title = Frontiers in Fusion Research: Physics and Fusion | publisher = Springer Science and Business Media | place = London | page = 12 | isbn = 978-1-84996-411-1 | quote = Empedocles (495–435 BC) proposed that the world was made of earth, water, air, and fire, which may correspond to solid, liquid, gas, and weakly ionized plasma. Surprisingly, this idea may catch the essence.}}</ref> Modern science recognizes classes of [[elementary particle]]s which have no substructure (or rather, particles that are not made of other particles) and [[composite particle]]s having substructure (particles made of other particles). ==See also== {{Wikipedia books|Classical elements}} *[[Alchemy]] *[[Classical elements in popular culture]] *[[Elemental|Elemental (Renaissance alchemy)]] *[[Wu Xing|Five elements (Chinese ''wǔ xíng'')]] *[[Mahabhuta|Five elements (Hindu ''mahābhūta'') and Four elements (Buddhist ''mahābhūtāni'')]] *[[Five elements (Japanese philosophy)|Five elements (Japanese ''godai'')]] *[[Arche|First principle (Pre-Socratic ''arche'' and Aristotelian substratum)]] *[[Qi|First principle (Chinese ''qì'' and Japanese ''ki'')]] *[[Fundamental interaction#Overview of the fundamental Interaction|Overview of the fundamental interaction]] *[[Prima materia|First principle (Prima materia in Alchemy)]] *[[Periodic table|Periodic table of the elements (Modern science)]] *[[Philosopher's stone|Philosopher's stone (Middle Ages and Renaissance alchemy)]] *[[Phlogiston theory|Phlogiston theory (History of science)]] *[[Fundamental interaction|Fundamental interaction (Quantum Mechanics)]] *[[Table of correspondences|Table of correspondences (Magic and the occult)]] ==Notes== {{Reflist}} ==References== * [[Bertrand Russell|Russell, Bertrand]] (1995) ''History of Western Philosophy'', Routledge, ISBN 0-415-07854-7. * Strathern, Paul (2000). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=qCzoF9sjTkAC Mendeleyev's Dream&nbsp;– the Quest for the Elements]''. New York: Berkley Books. ==External links== {{Commons category|Four elements}} *[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/khin/wheel231.html Section on 4 elements in Buddhism] *[http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/woe/woe07.htm The Kore Kosmou or Virgin of the World]. www.sacred-texts.com for Ancient Egypt Elements {{Alchemy}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Classical Element}} [[Category:Classical elements| ]] [[Category:Natural philosophy]] [[Category:Esoteric cosmology]] [[Category:History of astrology]] [[Category:Numerology]] [[Category:Technical factors of astrology]] [[Category:Theories in ancient Greek philosophy]] [[Category:Theories in ancient Chinese philosophy]] [[Category:Theories in ancient Indian philosophy]] [[Category:Alchemy]]'
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'@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ {{redirect|4 Elements|the album by Chronic Future|4 Elements (album)}} {{classic element}} -[[File:Fotothek df tg 0006472 Theosophie ^ Philosophie ^ Sonifikation ^ Musik.jpg|thumb|Segment of the macrocosm showing the elemental spheres of terra (earth), aqua (water), aer (air), and ignis (fire), [[Robert Fludd]], 1617]] +[[File:Fotothek df tg 0006472 Theosophie ^ Philosophie ^ Sonifikation ^ Musik.jpg|thumb|Segment of the macrocosm suck dick lolshowing the elemental spheres of terra (earth), aqua (water), aer (air), and ignis (fire), [[Robert Fludd]], 1617]] '''Classical elements''' typically refer to the concepts in [[Classical Greece|Ancient Greece]], of [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Water (classical element)|water]], [[Air (classical element)|air]], [[Fire (classical element)|fire]], and [[Aether (classical element)|æther]], which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances.<ref name="Boyd2003">{{cite book |first=T.J.M. |last=Boyd |first2=J.J. |last2=Sanderson |year=2003 |title=The Physics of Plasmas |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521459129 |lccn=2002024654 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bAmqvuGTUJ4C&pg=PA1 |page=1}}</ref><ref name="Ball2004">{{cite book |first=P. |last=Ball |year=2004 |title=The Elements: A Very Short Introduction |series=Very Short Introductions |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780191578250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uaBczzC4wvIC&pg=PT33 |page=33}}</ref> Ancient cultures in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Babylonia]], [[Ancient Japan|Japan]], [[Tibet#Early history|Tibet]], and [[Ancient India|India]] had similar lists, sometimes referring in local languages to "air" as "wind" and the fifth element as "void". The Chinese [[Wu Xing]] system lists [[Wood (Wu Xing)|Wood]] ([[wiktionary:木|木]] ''mù''), [[Fire (Wu Xing)|Fire]] ([[wiktionary:火|火]] ''huǒ''), [[Earth (Wu Xing)|Earth]] ([[wiktionary:土|土]] ''tǔ''), [[Metal (Wu Xing)|Metal]] ([[wiktionary:金|金]] ''jīn''), and [[Water (Wu Xing)|Water]] ([[wiktionary:水|水]] ''shuǐ''), though these are described more as energies or transitions than as types of material. '
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'{{redirect|4 Elements|the album by Chronic Future|4 Elements (album)}} {{classic element}} [[File:Fotothek df tg 0006472 Theosophie ^ Philosophie ^ Sonifikation ^ Musik.jpg|thumb|Segment of the macrocosm suck dick lolshowing the elemental spheres of terra (earth), aqua (water), aer (air), and ignis (fire), [[Robert Fludd]], 1617]] '''Classical elements''' typically refer to the concepts in [[Classical Greece|Ancient Greece]], of [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Water (classical element)|water]], [[Air (classical element)|air]], [[Fire (classical element)|fire]], and [[Aether (classical element)|æther]], which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances.<ref name="Boyd2003">{{cite book |first=T.J.M. |last=Boyd |first2=J.J. |last2=Sanderson |year=2003 |title=The Physics of Plasmas |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521459129 |lccn=2002024654 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bAmqvuGTUJ4C&pg=PA1 |page=1}}</ref><ref name="Ball2004">{{cite book |first=P. |last=Ball |year=2004 |title=The Elements: A Very Short Introduction |series=Very Short Introductions |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780191578250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uaBczzC4wvIC&pg=PT33 |page=33}}</ref> Ancient cultures in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Babylonia]], [[Ancient Japan|Japan]], [[Tibet#Early history|Tibet]], and [[Ancient India|India]] had similar lists, sometimes referring in local languages to "air" as "wind" and the fifth element as "void". The Chinese [[Wu Xing]] system lists [[Wood (Wu Xing)|Wood]] ([[wiktionary:木|木]] ''mù''), [[Fire (Wu Xing)|Fire]] ([[wiktionary:火|火]] ''huǒ''), [[Earth (Wu Xing)|Earth]] ([[wiktionary:土|土]] ''tǔ''), [[Metal (Wu Xing)|Metal]] ([[wiktionary:金|金]] ''jīn''), and [[Water (Wu Xing)|Water]] ([[wiktionary:水|水]] ''shuǐ''), though these are described more as energies or transitions than as types of material. These different cultures and even individual philosophers had widely varying explanations concerning their attributes and how they related to observable phenomena as well as [[cosmology]]. Sometimes these theories overlapped with [[mythology]] and were personified in deities. Some of these interpretations included [[atomism]] (the idea of very small, indivisible portions of matter) but other interpretations considered the elements to be divisible into infinitely small pieces without changing their nature. While the classification of the material world by the ancient [[Mahābhūta|Indians]] and [[Ancient Greece#Science and technology|Greeks]] into Air, Earth, Fire and Water was more philosophical, during the [[Islamic Golden Age]] medieval middle eastern scientists used practical, experimental observation to classify materials.<ref name=Jim>''[[Science and Islam (documentary)|Science and Islam]]'', [[Jim Al-Khalili]]. [[BBC]], 2009</ref> In Europe, the Ancient Greek system of [[Aristotle]] evolved slightly into the [[#Medieval classic element systems|medieval system]], which for the first time in Europe became subject to experimental verification in the 1600s, during the [[Scientific Revolution]]. Centuries of empirical investigation have proven that all the ancient systems were incorrect explanations of the physical world. It is now known that [[atomic theory]] is a correct explanation, and that atoms can be classified into more than a hundred [[chemical element]]s such as [[oxygen]], [[iron]], and [[Mercury (element)|mercury]]. These elements form [[chemical compound]]s and [[mixtures]], and under different temperatures and pressures, these substances can adopt different [[states of matter]]. The most commonly observed states of [[solid]], [[liquid]], [[gas]], and [[Plasma (physics)|plasma]] share many attributes with the classical elements of earth, water, air, and fire, respectively, but it is now known that these states are due to similar behavior of different types of atoms at similar energy levels, and not due to containing a certain type of atom or a certain type of infinitely divisible substance or energy. ==Ancient times== {{anchor|Ancient classic element systems}} In classical thought, the four elements [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Water (classical element)|water]], [[Air (classical element)|air]], and [[Fire (classical element)|fire]] as proposed by [[Empedocles]] frequently occur; [[Aristotle]] added a fifth element, [[Aether (classical element)|aether]]; it has been called [[akasha]] in India and quintessence in Europe. The concept of the five elements formed a basis of analysis in both [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]]. In Hinduism, particularly in an [[Esotericism|esoteric]] context, the four states-of-matter describe matter, and a fifth element describes that which was beyond the material world. Similar lists existed in ancient [[China]] and [[Japan]]. In Buddhism the four great elements, to which two others are sometimes added, are not viewed as substances, but as categories of [[sensory experience]]. ===Egypt=== {{anchor|Classical elements in Egypt}} A Greek text called the ''Kore Kosmou'' ("Virgin of the World") ascribed to [[Hermes Trismegistus]] (associated with the Egyptian god [[Thoth]]), names the four elements fire, water, air, and earth. As described in this book: <blockquote>And Isis answer made: Of living things, my son, some are made friends with ''fire'', and some with ''water'', some with ''air'', and some with ''earth'', and some with two or three of these, and some with all. And, on the contrary, again some are made enemies of fire, and some of water, some of earth, and some of air, and some of two of them, and some of three, and some of all. For instance, son, the locust and all flies flee fire; the eagle and the hawk and all high-flying birds flee water; fish, air and earth; the snake avoids the open air. Whereas snakes and all creeping things love earth; all swimming things love water; winged things, air, of which they are the citizens; while those that fly still higher love the fire and have the habitat near it. Not that some of the animals as well do not love fire; for instance salamanders, for they even have their homes in it. It is because one or another of the elements doth form their bodies' outer envelope. Each [[soul]], accordingly, while it is in its body is weighted and constricted by these four.</blockquote> According to [[Galen]], these elements were used by [[Hippocrates]] in describing the [[human body]] with an association with the [[Humorism|four humours]]: yellow [[bile]] (fire), [[Melancholia|black bile]] (earth), [[blood]] (air), and [[phlegm]] (water). Medical care was flexible and primarily about helping the patient stay in or return to his/her own personal natural balanced state.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Medicine and Society in early Modern Europe|last=Lindemann|first=Mary|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-521-73256-7|location=|pages=19|quote=|via=}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} ===Cosmic elements in Babylonia=== In [[Babylonian mythology]], the cosmogony called ''[[Enûma Eliš]]'', a text written between the 18th and 16th centuries BC, involves four gods that we might see as personified cosmic elements: sea, earth, sky, wind. In other Babylonian texts these phenomena are considered independent of their association with deities,<ref>{{Cite journal|title=A consideration of Babylonian astronomy within the historiography of science|author=Francesca Rochberg|journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science|volume=33|issue=4|date=December 2002|pages=661–684|doi=10.1016/S0039-3681(02)00022-5|postscript=.}}</ref> though they are not treated as the component elements of the universe, as later in [[Empedocles]]. ===India=== ====Hinduism==== {{anchor|Classical elements in Hinduism}}<!-- This section is linked from [[Akasha]] --> {{anchor|The 5 Elements of Nature}} {{Main article|Mahābhūta|Guṇa}} The system of five elements are found in [[Vedas]], especially [[Ayurveda]], the ''[[Pancha Bhoota|pancha mahabhuta]]'', or "five great elements", of [[Hinduism]] are ''[[bhūmi]]'' ([[earth (classical element)|earth]]),<ref>{{cite book|title=India through the ages|last=Gopal|first=Madan|year= 1990| page= 78|editor=K.S. Gautam|publisher=Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India}}</ref> ''[[Ap (water)|ap]]'' or ''jala'' ([[water (classical element)|water]]), ''[[agni|tejas]]'' or ''[[agni]]'' ([[fire (classical element)|fire]]), ''[[maruts|marut]]'', ''vayu'' or ''pavan'' ([[air (classical element)|air]] or [[wind]]) and ''vyom'' or ''shunya'' (space or zero) or ''[[akash]]'' ([[Aether (classical element)|aether]] or [[Aether (classical element)|void]]).<ref>{{cite book|title=Natural Healing Through Ayurveda|author=Subhash Ranade|page=32|publisher = Motilal Banarsidass Publisher| isbn = 9788120812437}}</ref> They further suggest that all of creation, including the human body, is made up of these five essential elements and that upon death, the human body dissolves into these five elements of nature, thereby balancing the cycle of nature.<ref>{{cite book|title=South Indian Hindu Festivals and Traditions|pages=60–62|author=Maithily Jagannathan|publisher=Abhinav Publications}}</ref> The five elements are associated with the five senses, and act as the gross medium for the experience of sensations. The basest element, earth, created using all the other elements, can be perceived by all five senses&nbsp;– (i) hearing, (ii) touch, (iii) sight, (iv) taste, and (v) smell. The next higher element, water, has no odor but can be heard, felt, seen and tasted. Next comes fire, which can be heard, felt and seen. Air can be heard and felt. "Akasha" (aether) is beyond the senses of smell, taste, sight, and touch; it being accessible to the sense of hearing alone.<ref>{{cite book|title=Theatre and Consciousness: Explanatory Scope and Future Potential|author=Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe|publisher=Intellect Books|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zGy0UglRz6IC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Buddhism|author=Samir Nath|publisher=Sarup & Sons|page=653|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cojAfyr04UAC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Structural Depths of Indian Thought: Toward a Constructive Postmodern Ethics|page=81|publisher=SUNY Press|author=Poola Tirupati Raju}}</ref> ====Buddhism==== {{anchor|Buddhist elements}} {{Main article|Mahābhūta}} In the [[Pali literature]], the ''[[mahabhuta]]'' ("great elements") or ''catudhatu'' ("four elements") are earth, water, fire and air. In early Buddhism, the four elements are a basis for understanding suffering and for liberating oneself from suffering. The earliest Buddhist texts explain that the four primary material elements are the sensory qualities solidity, fluidity, temperature, and mobility; their characterization as earth, water, fire, and air, respectively, is declared an abstraction – instead of concentrating on the fact of material existence, one observes how a physical thing is sensed, felt, perceived.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lusthaus|first1=Dan|title=What is and isn't Yogācāra|url=http://www.acmuller.net/yogacara/articles/intro.html}}</ref> The [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]'s teaching regarding the four elements is to be understood as the base of all observation of real sensations rather than as a philosophy. The four properties are cohesion (water), solidity or inertia (earth), expansion or vibration (air) and heat or energy content (fire). He promulgated a categorization of mind and matter as composed of eight types of "[[kalapas]]" of which the four elements are primary and a secondary group of four are color, smell, taste, and nutriment which are derivative from the four primaries.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}} [[Thanissaro Bhikkhu]] (1997) renders an extract of [[Shakyamuni Buddha]]'s from Pali into English thus: {{quote|Just as a skilled butcher or his apprentice, having killed a cow, would sit at a crossroads cutting it up into pieces, the monk contemplates this very body&nbsp;– however it stands, however it is disposed&nbsp;– in terms of properties: 'In this body there is the earth property, the liquid property, the fire property, & the wind property.'<ref>{{cite web|title=''Kayagata-sati Sutta'' |author=[[Majjhima Nikaya]] |page=119 |url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.119.than.html |accessdate=2009-01-30}}</ref>}} Tibetan Buddhist medical literature speaks of the Panch [[Mahābhūta]] (five elements).<ref>{{Cite journal | last=Gurmet | first=Padma | title='Sowa - Rigpa' : Himalayan art of healing | journal=Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge | volume=3 | issue=2 | pages=212–218 | date=2004 | url=http://nopr.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/9345}}</ref> ===China=== {{anchor|Chinese elements}} {{Main article|Wu Xing}} {{Refimprove section|date=May 2009}} The Chinese had a somewhat different series of elements, namely Fire, Earth, Metal (literally gold), Water and Wood, which were understood as different types of energy in a state of constant interaction and flux with one another, rather than the Western notion of different kinds of material. Although it is usually translated as "element", the Chinese word ''xing'' literally means something like "changing states of being", "permutations" or "metamorphoses of being".<ref>{{cite book|author=Wolfram Eberhard |title=A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols |pages=93, 105, 309 |publisher=Routledge and Keegan Paul |location=London |year=1986|isbn=0-7102-0191-5}}</ref> In fact [[Sinologists]] cannot agree on any single translation. The Chinese elements were seen as ever changing and moving{{spaced ndash}}one translation of ''wu xing'' is simply "the five changes". The Wu Xing are chiefly an ancient mnemonic device for systems with five stages; hence the preferred translation of "movements", "phases" or "steps" over "elements." In the [[bagua]], [[Metal (Wu Xing)|metal]] is associated with the divination figure 兌 ''Duì'' (☱, the lake or marsh: 澤/泽 ''zé'') and with 乾 ''Qián'' (☰, the sky or heavens: 天 ''tiān''). [[Wood (Wu Xing)|Wood]] is associated with 巽 ''Xùn'' (☴, the wind: 風/风 ''fēng'') and with 震 ''Zhèn'' (☳, the arousing/thunder: 雷 ''léi''). In view of the durability of meteoric iron, metal came to be associated with the [[aether (classical element)|aether]], which is sometimes conflated with [[Stoicism|Stoic]] [[pneuma]], as both terms originally referred to air (the former being higher, brighter, more fiery or celestial and the latter being merely warmer, and thus [[vitalism|vital]] or [[abiogenesis|biogenetic]]). In [[Taoism]], ''[[qi]]'' functions similarly to pneuma in a prime matter (a basic principle of energetic transformation) that accounts for both biological and inanimate phenomena. In Chinese philosophy the universe consists of heaven and earth. The five major [[planet]]s are associated with and even named after the elements: [[Jupiter]] 木星 is Wood ([[wikt:木#Han character|木]]), [[Mars]] 火星 is Fire ([[wikt:火#Han character|火]]), [[Saturn]] 土星 is Earth ([[wikt:土#Han character|土]]), [[Venus]] 金星 is Metal ([[wikt:金#Han character|金]]), and [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] 水星 is Water ([[wikt:水#Han character|水]]). Also, the [[Moon]] represents [[Yin and yang|Yin]] ([[wikt:陰#Han character|陰]]), and the [[Sun]] 太陽 represents [[Yin and yang|Yang]] ([[wikt:陽#Han character|陽]]). Yin, Yang, and the five elements are associated with themes in the [[I Ching]], the oldest of Chinese classical texts which describes an ancient system of [[cosmology]] and [[philosophy]]. The five elements also play an important part in [[Chinese astrology]] and the Chinese form of [[geomancy]] known as [[Feng shui]]. The doctrine of five phases describes two cycles of balance, a generating or creation (生, shēng) cycle and an overcoming or destruction (克/剋, kè) cycle of interactions between the phases. ''Generating'' * Wood feeds fire; * Fire creates earth (ash); * Earth bears metal; * Metal collects water; * Water nourishes wood. ''Overcoming'' * Wood parts earth; * Earth absorbs water; * Water quenches fire; * Fire melts metal; * Metal chops wood. There are also two cycles of imbalance, an overacting cycle (cheng) and an insulting cycle (wu). ===Greece=== {{anchor|Classical elements in Greece}}<!-- This section is linked from [[Democritus]] --> <div style="font-size:80%;float:right;clear:left;margin-left:1em;"> {|align="center" class="toccolours" style="width:220px; float:center; margin:1em 1em 1em 1em;" | style="background:#c9b59d; text-align:center;" | '''Aristotelian elements and qualities''' |- | style="text-align:center;" | [[File:Four elements representation.svg|center|200px|Four Classical Elements]] {{clear}} ''Empedoclean elements'' {{clear}} [[File:Alchemy fire symbol.svg|20px]] [[Fire (classical element)|fire]] {{·}} [[File:Alchemy earth symbol.svg|20px]] [[Earth (classical element)|earth]] <br /> [[File:Alchemy water symbol.svg|20px]] [[Water (classical element)|water]] {{·}} [[File:Alchemy air symbol.svg|20px]] [[Air (classical element)|air]] |} </div> The [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] belief in five basic elements, these being earth (γῆ ''ge''), water (ὕδωρ ''hudor''), air (ἀήρ ''aer''), fire (πῦρ ''pur'') and aether (αἰθήρ ''aither''), dates from pre-Socratic times and persisted throughout the [[Middle Ages]] and into the [[Renaissance]], deeply influencing [[Europe]]an thought and culture. These five elements are sometimes associated with the five [[platonic solid]]s. [[Magna Graecia|Sicilian]] philosopher [[Empedocles]] (ca. 450 BC) proved (at least to his satisfaction) that air was a separate substance by observing that a bucket inverted in water did not become filled with water, a pocket of air remaining trapped inside.<ref>Russell, p. 72</ref> Prior to Empedocles, Greek philosophers had debated which substance was the primordial element from which everything else was made; [[Heraclitus]] championed fire, [[Thales]] supported water, and [[Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]] plumped for air.<ref>Russell, p. 61</ref> [[Anaximander]] argued that the primordial substance was not any of the known substances, but could be transformed into them, and they into each other.<ref>Russell, p. 46</ref> Empedocles was the first to propose four elements, fire, earth, air, and water.<ref>Russell, pp. 62, 75</ref> He called them the four "roots" (ῥιζὤματα, rhizōmata). Plato seems to have been the first to use the term "element (στοιχεῖον, ''stoicheion'')" in reference to air, fire, earth, and water.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plat.+Tim.+48b |author=Plato |title=Timaeus |at=48b }}</ref> The ancient Greek word for element, ''stoicheion'' (from ''stoicheo'', "to line up") meant "smallest division (of a sun-dial), a syllable", as the composing unit of an alphabet it could denote a letter and the smallest unit from which a word is formed. A similar alphabetic metaphor may be the origin of the equivalent Latin word ''elementum'' (from which the English word comes), possibly based on the names of the letters 'l', 'm', and 'n', though the validity of this idea is debated.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lehmann|first1=R.G.|editor1-last=de Voogt|editor1-first=A.|editor2-last=Quack|editor2-first=J.F.|title=The Idea of Writing: Writing Across Borders|date=2011|publisher=Brill|pages=15–16, note 8|chapter=27-30-22-26 - How many letters needs an alphabet?}}</ref> In his ''[[On Generation and Corruption]]'',<ref>τὸ μὲν γὰρ πῦρ θερμὸν καὶ ξηρόν, ὁ δ' ἀὴρ θερμὸν καὶ ὑγρόν (οἷον ἀτμὶς γὰρ ὁ ἀήρ), τὸ δ' ὕδωρ ψυχρὸν καὶ ὑγρόν, ἡ δὲ γῆ ψυχρὸν καὶ ξηρόν [http://el.wikisource.org/wiki/%CE%A0%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%AF_%CE%93%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%AD%CF%83%CE%B5%CF%89%CF%82_%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9_%CE%A6%CE%B8%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%AC%CF%82/2#.CE.9A.CE.B5.CF.86.CE.AC.CE.BB.CE.B1.CE.B9.CE.BF_3]</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Lloyd | first = G. E. R. | author-link = G. E. R. Lloyd | date = 1968 | title = Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of His Thought | publisher = Cambridge University Press | place = Cambridge | pages = 166–169 | isbn = 0-521-09456-9}}</ref> Aristotle related each of the four elements to two of the four sensible qualities: * [[Fire (classical element)|'''Fire''']] is both hot and dry. * [[Air (classical element)|'''Air''']] is both hot and wet (for air is like vapor, ἀτμὶς). * [[Water (classical element)|'''Water''']] is both cold and wet. * [[Earth (classical element)|'''Earth''']] is both cold and dry. A classic diagram has one square [[inscribed]] in the other, with the corners of one being the classical elements, and the corners of the other being the properties. The opposite corner is the opposite of these properties, "hot&nbsp;– cold" and "dry&nbsp;– wet". [[Aristotle]] added a fifth element, [[Aether (classical element)#Fifth element|aether]], as the quintessence, reasoning that whereas fire, earth, air, and water were earthly and corruptible, since no changes had been perceived in the heavenly regions, the [[star]]s cannot be made out of any of the four elements but must be made of a different, unchangeable, heavenly substance.<ref>{{cite book | last = Lloyd | first = G. E. R. | author-link = G. E. R. Lloyd | title=Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought | publisher = Cambridge University Press | place = Cambridge | year=1968 | pages=133–139 | isbn=0-521-09456-9}}</ref>{{clear|left}} The [[Neoplatonic]] philosopher, [[Proclus]], rejected Aristotle's theory relating the elements to the sensible qualities hot, cold, wet, and dry. He maintained that each of the elements has three properties. Fire is sharp, subtle, and mobile while its opposite, earth, is blunt, dense, and immobile; they are joined by the intermediate elements, air and water, in the following fashion:<ref>{{citation|author=Proclus|title=Commentary on Plato’s ''Timaeus'' | at= 3.38.1–3.39.28}}</ref> {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:240px; height:120px;" |- ! Fire | style="background: pink" | Sharp || style="background: pink" | Subtle || style="background: pink" | Mobile |- ! Air | style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: pink" | Subtle || style="background: pink" | Mobile |- ! Water | style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: lightgreen" | Dense || style="background: pink" | Mobile |- ! Earth | style="background: lightgreen" | Blunt || style="background: lightgreen" | Dense || style="background: lightgreen" | Immobile |} ===Tibet=== {{anchor|Bön elements}} In [[Bön]] or ancient Tibetan philosophy, the five elemental processes of [[Earth (classical element)|earth]], [[Water (classical element)|water]], [[Fire (classical element)|fire]], [[Air (classical element)|air]] and [[Void (classical element)|space]] are the essential materials of all existent [[phenomena]] or [[skandha|aggregate]]s. The elemental processes form the basis of the [[calendar]], [[astrology]], [[medicine]], [[psychology]] and are the foundation of the [[Spirituality|spiritual]] [[traditions]] of [[shamanism]], [[tantra]] and [[Dzogchen]]. [[Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche]] states that {{quote|physical properties are assigned to the elements: earth is solidity; water is cohesion; fire is temperature; air is motion; and space is the spatial dimension that accommodates the other four active elements. In addition, the elements are correlated to different emotions, temperaments, directions, colors, tastes, body types, illnesses, thinking styles, and character. From the five elements arise the five senses and the five fields of sensory experience; the five negative emotions and the five wisdoms; and the five extensions of the body. They are the five primary ''pranas'' or vital energies. They are the constituents of every physical, sensual, mental, and spiritual phenomenon.<ref>{{cite book|author=Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche |title=Healing with Form, Energy, and Light |page=1 |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Snow Lion Publications |isbn=1-55939-176-6 |year=2002}}</ref>}} The names of the elements are analogous to categorised experiential sensations of the natural world. The [[name]]s are [[symbol]]ic and key to their inherent qualities and/or modes of action by [[analogy]]. In [[Bön]] the elemental processes are fundamental [[metaphor]]s for working with external, internal and secret energetic forces. All five elemental processes in their essential purity are inherent in the [[mindstream]] and link the [[trikaya]] and are aspects of primordial energy. As [[Herbert V. Günther]] states: {{quote|Thus, bearing in mind that thought struggles incessantly against the treachery of language and that what we observe and describe is the observer himself, we may nonetheless proceed to investigate the successive phases in our becoming human beings. Throughout these phases, the experience (''das Erlebnis'') of ourselves as an intensity (imaged and felt as a "god", lha) setting up its own spatiality (imaged and felt as a "house" ''khang'') is present in various intensities of illumination that occur within ourselves as a "temple." A corollary of this Erlebnis is its light character manifesting itself in various "frequencies" or colors. This is to say, since we are beings of light we display this light in a multiplicity of nuances.<ref>{{cite book|author=Herber V. Günther |year=1996 |title=The Teachings of Padmasambhava |pages=115–116 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |publisher=E. J. Brill |edition=Hardcover}}</ref>}} In the above block quote the [[trikaya]] is encoded as: [[dharmakaya]] "god"; [[sambhogakaya]] "temple" and [[nirmanakaya]] "house". ==Medieval== ===Alchemy=== {{anchor|Elements in Medieval alchemy}} [[File:Fotothek df tg 0007129 Theosophie ^ Alchemie.jpg|thumb|Seventeenth century alchemical emblem showing the four Classical elements in the corners of the image, alongside the tria prima on the central triangle]] The elemental system used in Medieval [[alchemy]] was developed primarily by the [[Alchemy and chemistry in Islam|Persian alchemist]] [[Jābir ibn Hayyān]] (Geber).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Norris |first1=John A. |title=The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science |journal=Ambix |volume=53 |pages=43 |year=2006 |doi=10.1179/174582306X93183}}</ref> His system consisted of the four classical elements of air, earth, fire, and water, in addition to two philosophical elements: [[Sulfur|sulphur]], characterizing the principle of combustibility, "the stone which burns"; and [[Mercury (element)|mercury]], characterizing the principle of metallic properties. They were seen by early alchemists as idealized expressions of irreducibile components of the [[universe]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Clulee |first=Nicholas H. |title=John Dee's Natural Philosophy |publisher=Routledge |year=1988 |pages=97 |isbn=978-0-415-00625-5}}</ref> and are of larger consideration within philosophical alchemy. The three metallic principles—sulphur to flammability or combustion, mercury to volatility and stability, and [[Salt (chemistry)|salt]] to solidity—became the ''tria prima'' of the Swiss alchemist [[Paracelsus]]. He reasoned that Aristotle’s four element theory appeared in bodies as three principles. Paracelsus saw these principles as fundamental and justified them by recourse to the description of how wood burns in fire. Mercury included the cohesive principle, so that when it left in smoke the wood fell apart. Smoke described the volatility (the mercurial principle), the heat-giving flames described flammability (sulphur), and the remnant ash described solidity (salt).<ref>Strathern, 2000. Page 79.</ref> ===Islamic=== {{expand section|date=December 2016}} The [[Islamic philosophy|Islamic philosophers]] [[al-Kindi]], [[Avicenna]] and [[Fakhr al-Din al-Razi]] connected the four elements with the four natures heat and cold (the active force), and dryness and moisture (the recipients).<ref name = "rafati">Rafati, Vahid. ''[http://bahai-library.com/rafati_hikmat_agents_patients Lawh-i-Hikmat: The Two Agents and the Two Patients]''. `Andalib, vol. 5, no. 19, pp. 29-38.</ref> ===Japan=== {{anchor|Japanese elements}} {{Main article|Five elements (Japanese philosophy)}} [[Japan]]ese traditions use a set of elements called the {{lang|ja|五大}} (''godai'', literally "five great"). These five are [[earth (classical element)|earth]], [[water (classical element)|water]], [[fire (classical element)|fire]], [[wind (classical element)|wind]]/air, and [[Aether (classical element)|void]]. These came from Indian [[Vastu shastra]] philosophy and Buddhist beliefs; in addition, the classical Chinese elements ({{lang|ja|五行}}, ''wu xing'') are also prominent in Japanese culture, especially to the influential Neo-Confucianists during the medieval [[Edo period]]. * '''Earth''' represented things that were solid. * '''Water''' represented things that were liquid. * '''Fire''' represented things that destroy. * '''Air''' represented things that moved. * '''Void''' or '''Sky/Heaven''' represented things not of our everyday life. ==Western astrology== {{anchor|Elements in western astrology and tarot}} {{Main article|Astrology and the classical elements}} Western [[astrology]] uses the four [[astrology and the classical elements|classical elements]] in connection with [[natal chart|astrological chart]]s and [[horoscopes]]. The twelve [[Astrological signs|signs]] of the [[zodiac]] are divided into the four elements: [[Fire signs]] are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, [[Earth signs]] are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, [[Air signs]] are Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, and [[Water signs]] are Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.<ref>{{cite book | author=Tester, S. J. | title=A History of Western Astrology | year=1999 | publisher=Boydell & Brewer |pages=59–61, 94}}</ref> ==Modern {{anchor|Modern elements}}== {{See also|Chemical element#History}} The [[Physics (Aristotle)|Aristotelian tradition]] and medieval [[Alchemy]] eventually gave rise to modern scientific theories and new taxonomies. By the time of [[Antoine Lavoisier]], for example, a [[History of the periodic table#Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier|list of elements]] would no longer refer to classical elements.<ref>[http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/lavtable.html Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794)], in [http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/index.html Classic Chemistry], compiled by Carmen Giunta</ref> Some modern scientists see a parallel between the classical elements and the four [[state of matter|states of matter]]: [[solid]], [[liquid]], [[gas]] and weakly ionized [[Plasma (physics)|plasma]].<ref>{{ Citation | last = Kikuchi | first = Mitsuru | date = 2011 | title = Frontiers in Fusion Research: Physics and Fusion | publisher = Springer Science and Business Media | place = London | page = 12 | isbn = 978-1-84996-411-1 | quote = Empedocles (495–435 BC) proposed that the world was made of earth, water, air, and fire, which may correspond to solid, liquid, gas, and weakly ionized plasma. Surprisingly, this idea may catch the essence.}}</ref> Modern science recognizes classes of [[elementary particle]]s which have no substructure (or rather, particles that are not made of other particles) and [[composite particle]]s having substructure (particles made of other particles). ==See also== {{Wikipedia books|Classical elements}} *[[Alchemy]] *[[Classical elements in popular culture]] *[[Elemental|Elemental (Renaissance alchemy)]] *[[Wu Xing|Five elements (Chinese ''wǔ xíng'')]] *[[Mahabhuta|Five elements (Hindu ''mahābhūta'') and Four elements (Buddhist ''mahābhūtāni'')]] *[[Five elements (Japanese philosophy)|Five elements (Japanese ''godai'')]] *[[Arche|First principle (Pre-Socratic ''arche'' and Aristotelian substratum)]] *[[Qi|First principle (Chinese ''qì'' and Japanese ''ki'')]] *[[Fundamental interaction#Overview of the fundamental Interaction|Overview of the fundamental interaction]] *[[Prima materia|First principle (Prima materia in Alchemy)]] *[[Periodic table|Periodic table of the elements (Modern science)]] *[[Philosopher's stone|Philosopher's stone (Middle Ages and Renaissance alchemy)]] *[[Phlogiston theory|Phlogiston theory (History of science)]] *[[Fundamental interaction|Fundamental interaction (Quantum Mechanics)]] *[[Table of correspondences|Table of correspondences (Magic and the occult)]] ==Notes== {{Reflist}} ==References== * [[Bertrand Russell|Russell, Bertrand]] (1995) ''History of Western Philosophy'', Routledge, ISBN 0-415-07854-7. * Strathern, Paul (2000). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=qCzoF9sjTkAC Mendeleyev's Dream&nbsp;– the Quest for the Elements]''. New York: Berkley Books. ==External links== {{Commons category|Four elements}} *[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/khin/wheel231.html Section on 4 elements in Buddhism] *[http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/woe/woe07.htm The Kore Kosmou or Virgin of the World]. www.sacred-texts.com for Ancient Egypt Elements {{Alchemy}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Classical Element}} [[Category:Classical elements| ]] [[Category:Natural philosophy]] [[Category:Esoteric cosmology]] [[Category:History of astrology]] [[Category:Numerology]] [[Category:Technical factors of astrology]] [[Category:Theories in ancient Greek philosophy]] [[Category:Theories in ancient Chinese philosophy]] [[Category:Theories in ancient Indian philosophy]] [[Category:Alchemy]]'
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