Jun Yeob Lee

PhD Student

AWARDS: Durham Doctoral Studentship.  

SUPERVISED BY: Prof. George Boys-Stones

TITLE: The aperilēpton in Epicureanism

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

My research concentrates on the concept of aperilēpton in Epicureanism, the literal translation of which could be 'inconceivable' or 'incomprehensible' or 'ungraspable.' At first sight, this concept appears to be employed in purely epistemological contexts. Epicurus, however, does not employ it only in the application of epistemological tenets but also in the description of ontological quantities, such as the variation in atomic shapes and the falling speed of atoms in void. Starting from David Konstan's discussion of the issue, my current hypothesis is that incomprehensible quantities in Epicureanism may possibly constitute the third ontological tier between absolute infinity and numerically assignable finiteness. In addition to justifying this intriguing trichotomy, my work aims to reveal who invented this concept in the history of ancient philosophy, why the inventor introduced this concept and what philosophical problems the inventor was addressing.