Agrigento Empedocles.-

“Happy of him who obtained the wealth of divine thoughts, miserable, on the other hand, he who is only occupied by an obscure opinion about the gods” (frag.132; Péri Physeos).

Love/Hate

The world for Empedocles is settled between Love, Hate, phase in which the separation of the elements predominates.“These elements never cease their continuous change. Sometimes they unite under the influence of Love and in this way everything becomes the One. Other times they disintegrate by the hostile force of Hate and have an unstable life. ” (Fr. 17)
The cosmic cycle consists of four stages, two extremes represented by triumph, be it of friendship, be it of discord, and two intermediates, of transition from one to discord; or vice versa: “Something double I will say: Once it grew to be One only from many, and again it separated from many to be one” (frag. 17). It is, therefore, the two cosmic forces of “Love and Hate” that move the elements. The movement of composing and dissolving cyclic“All of this occurs through a double cycle of history, both of the world and of living beings; “Double is the generation of mortal beings, double their disappearance” (frag. 17).
This cyclicity, so specifically archaic, is shown, according to Empédocles, in the future of the world (kosmos), which presents a clear Heraclitean influence. But, by demand of his own reasoning, with an obvious Parmenidean influence, he will sustain eternity and immutability of being.