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Parmenides
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:''For the Platonic dialogue see
Parmenides (dialogue).''
'''Parmenides of Elea''' (early
5th century BC) was an
Hellenic Greece ancient Greek philosophy philosopher born in
Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of
Italy. He is reported to have been a student of
Xenophanes, and the founder of the
Eleatic school, which also included
Zeno of Elea and
Melissus of Samos.
Image:Sanzio 01 Parmenides.jpg thumb|right|
He is one of the most significant of the
pre-Socratic philosophers. His only known work, conventionally titled 'On Nature' is an apocalyptic poem, which has only survived in fragmentary form. Approximately 150 lines of the poem remain today. It is known, however, that the work originally divided into three parts: a poem, "the way of truth" (''alethia'') and "the way of appearance/opinion" (''doxa''). The poem is a narrative sequence in which the narrator travels "beyond the beaten paths of mortal men" to receive a revelation from an unnamed goddess on the nature of reality. ''Alethia'', an estimated 90% of which has survived, and ''doxa'', most of which no longer exists, are then presented as the spoken revelation of the goddess without any accompanying narrative.
Teachings
The traditional interpretation of Parmenides' extremely obscure and esoteric work is that he argued that the every-day
perception of
reality of the
nature physical world (as described in ''doxa'') is mistaken, and that the reality of the world is 'One Being' (as described in ''alethia''): an unchanging, ungenerated, indestructible whole. Under 'way of seeming', Parmenides set out a contrasting but more conventional view of the world, thereby becoming an early exponent of the
dualism duality of
appearance and reality. For him and his pupils the
phenomena of movement and change are simply appearances of a static, indivisible,
eternity eternal reality.
Parmenides' considerable influence on the thinking of
Plato is undeniable, and in this respect Parmenides has influenced the whole history of
Western philosophy, and is often seen as its grandfather. Even Plato himself, in the ''
Sophist (dialogue) ''Sophist'''', refers to the work of "our Father Parmenides" as something to be taken very seriously and treated with respect. In the ''
Parmenides (dialogue) ''Parmenides'''' the Eleatic philosopher, which may well be Parmenides himself, and
Socrates argue about
dialectic. In the ''
Theaetetus (Plato) Theaetetus'', Socrates says that Parmenides alone among the wise (
Protagoras,
Heraclitus,
Empedocles,
Epicharmus, and
Homer) denied that everything is change and motion.
Metaphysics
The ''Way of Truth'' discusses that which is real, which contrasts in some way with the argument of the ''Way of Seeming'', which discusses that which is illusory. Under the ''Way of Truth'', Parmenides stated that there are two ways of inquiry: that it ''is'', that it ''is not''. He said that the latter argument is never feasible because nothing can ''not be'' and be an object of speech and thought:
:''For never shall this prevail, that things that are not '''are'''.''
:''Thinking and the thought that it is are the same; for you will not find thought apart from what is, in relation to which it is uttered.''
:''For thought and being are the same.''
:''It is necessary to speak and to think what is; for being is, but nothing is not.''
:''Helplessness guides the wandering thought in their breasts; they are carried along deaf and blind alike, dazed, beasts without judgment, convinced that to be and not to be are the same and not the same, and that the road of all things is a backward-turning one.''
Furthermore, he implied that it could not have "come into being" because "
nothing comes from nothing."
Moreover he argued that movement was impossible because it requires moving into "the void", and Parmenides identified "the void" with nothing, and therefore (by definition) it does not exist. That which does exist is ''The Parmenidean One'' which is timeless, uniform, and unchanging:
:''How could what is perish? How could it have come to be? For if it came into being, it is not; nor is it if ever it is going to be. Thus coming into being is extinguished, and destruction unknown.''
:''Nor was [it] once, nor will [it] be, since [it] is, now, all together, / One, continuous; for what coming-to-be of it will you seek? / In what way, whence, did [it] grow? Neither from what-is-not shall I allow / You to say or think; for it is not to be said or thought / That [''it''] ''is not''. And what need could have impelled it to grow / Later or sooner, if it began from nothing? Thus [it] must either be completely or not at all.''
:''[What exists] is now, all at once, one and continuous... Nor is it divisible, since it is all alike; nor is there any more or less of it in one place which might prevent it from holding together, but all is full of what is.''
:''And it is all one to me / Where I am to begin; for I shall return there again.''
Perception and concepts
Parmenides claimed that the
truth can not be known in the usual manner, through sensual
perception. Only pure logical
reason will result in the understanding of the truth of the world. ''For this view, that That Which Is Not exists, can never predominate. You must debar your thought from this way of search, nor let ordinary experience in its variety force you along this way, (namely, that of allowing) the eye, sightless as it is, and the ear, full of sound, and the tongue, to rule; but (you must) judge by means of the Reason (
Logos) the much-contested proof which is expounded by me.''
Works
*''On Nature'' (written between 480 and 470 BC) [http://www.elea.org/Parmenides/ ]
References and further reading
*{{cite book | author=Austin, Scott | title=Parmenides: Being, Bounds and Logic | publisher=Yale University Press | year=1962}}
*{{cite book | author=Barnes, Jonathan | title=The Presocratic Philosophers (Two Volumes) |publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul | year =1978}}
*{{cite book | author=
Allan H. Coxon Coxon, A. H.| title=The Fragments of Parmenides | publisher=Van Gorcum | year=1986}}
*{{cite book | author=Curd, Patricia | title=The Legacy of Parmenides | publisher=Princeton University Press | year=1998}}
*{{cite book | author=Kingsley, Peter | title=In the Dark Places of Wisdom | publisher=Duckwork and Co. | year=2001}}
*{{cite book | author=Melchert, Norman | title=The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy | publisher=McGraw Hill | year=2002 | id=ISBN 0195175107}}
*{{cite book | author=Mourelatos, Alexandar P. D. | title=The Route of Parmenides | publisher=Yale University Press | year=1970}}
An extensive bibliography is available [http://presocratics.org/parmenides.htm here], an even more extensive [http://www.parmenides.com/images/pdfs/Pbib29Apr05online.pdf here]
External links
-
''Parmenides'', The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
-
"Lecture Notes: Parmenides", Mark Cohen, University of Washighton
-
Parmenides' Way of Truth
-
parallel text of three translations (two english, one german)
{{Presocratics}}
Category:Ancient Greek philosophers
Category:Presocratic philosophers
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