The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c41.s8.1

v2.c41.s8.1

U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff³ holds that in the doctrine of Philolaos the five bodies in the sphaira are the four elements, which compose it, with as fifth ὁ τᾶς σφαίρας ὁλκός in the sense of that which gives the sphaira its form, the nature of that something being only vaguely felt; in the *Timaios* Plato makes the world-soul perform an analogous function. He insists⁴ that it is to Aristotle we must look for the conception of the ether as a fifth element, for he evidently deliberately claims this as his own invention. The assertion of Xenokrates⁵ which ascribes the doctrine to Plato he explains either as referring to a casual adoption of the idea by Plato, which he did not carry farther, or to his accepting an innovation of Aristotle’s. Doubtless ascription to Plato or Aristotle of the precise form of the doctrine is legitimate, but there is force in the view of Rostagni⁶ that already in the early Pythagorean view, if we accept the traditional accounts, the basis of the doctrine existed. The fifth element is the περιέχον which is described also as the other as well as the ἄπειρον πνεῦμα, while on the immaterial side we have the world spirit as the power which binds together the mass. In any event there is no close similarity between the Greek and the Indian conception of ether, whether as regards the final doctrine as seen in Aristotle or the material whence it was developed.