1. Empedocles - Noun
2. Empedocles - Proper noun
Greek philosopher who taught that all matter is composed of particles of fire and water and air and earth (fifth century BC)
Source: WordNetBoth Empedocles and Heraclitus held it for a truth that man could not be altogether cleared from injustice in dealing with beasts as he now does. Plutarch
Empedocles tried to address the problem of change by saying that there is not one fundamental arche but four-earth, water, air, and fire-which generate all the material substances in nature by mixing together in various ways under the influence of forces he called Love and Strife. John Freely
But this saying rather appertains to philosophy, as Empedocles and certain others have described. Hippocrates
Aristotle, Physics, 213a24–7 There is however, no evidence that Empedocles performed any experiment with clepsydras. Source: Internet
B117 (Hippolytus, i. 3.2) For Empedocles, all living things were on the same spiritual plane; plants and animals are links in a chain where humans are a link too. Source: Internet
Empedocles attempted to explain the separation of elements, the formation of earth and sea, of Sun and Moon, of atmosphere. Source: Internet