But all that can be made out of the elements of a quantum
is a quantum, not a substance. These (and others like them) are the
consequences of the view that the soul is composed of all the
elements.
It is absurd, also, to say both (a) that like is not capable of
being affected by like, and (b) that like is perceived or known by
like, for perceiving, and also both thinking and knowing, are, on
their own assumption, ways of being affected or moved.
There are many puzzles and difficulties raised by saying, as
Empedocles does, that each set of things is known by means of its
corporeal elements and by reference to something in soul which is like
them, and additional testimony is furnished by this new consideration;
for all the parts of the animal body which consist wholly of earth
such as bones, sinews, and hair seem to be wholly insensitive and
consequently not perceptive even of objects earthy like themselves, as
they ought to have been.
Further, each of the principles will have far more ignorance than
knowledge, for though each of them will know one thing, there will
be many of which it will be ignorant. Empedocles at any rate must
conclude that his God is the least intelligent of all beings, for of
him alone is it true that there is one thing, Strife, which he does
not know, while there is nothing which mortal beings do not know,
for ere is nothing which does not enter into their composition.
In general, we may ask, Why has not everything a soul, since
everything either is an element, or is formed out of one or several or
all of the elements? Each must certainly know one or several or all.
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