Entre matérialité et divinité: les métamorphoses du concept d'"élément"

Abstract

This article intends to show how the Aristotelian invention of στοιχεῖα leads to thinking of the identity of ‘elements’ on the model of atoms. It seeks to highlight what the notion of ῥιζώματα brings to the understanding of the material entities in Empedocles' poem on nature.
By studying the reception of Empedocles in Hölderlin and Nietzsche, the aim is to ask how the dual material and divine dimensions of the elemental roots could have been interpreted. How can we understand the relationship between the mythological gods and the ‘elements’? How was the divinity of Empedoclean nature conceived? The article looks in particular at the concept of the Aether, highlighting a shift towards immateriality in the understanding of the divine.