Zeno of elea quotes

Parmenides (c BC) was a prominent philosopher in ancient Greece.

He founded the Eleatic school, which was named after Elea, the southern Italian city of his birth. Little has survived of his writings with only a single poem being definitively attributed to him, but he was still influential as a philosopher. Plato in particular was strongly influenced by his ideas about the nature of reality and how it often conflicts with what appears to be true.

Personal Life

The life of Parmenides is shrouded in mystery with only fragmentary evidence having come down to our day.

He seems to have been born into a rich and influential family, and was probably involved in the drawing up of the laws of Elea.

Parmenides of elea biography of abraham lincoln Parmenides argues that this is not the true nature of reality but an illusion created by our senses. They go on to the end, each in his own way, without caring whether their arguments carry us along with them, or whether we are left behind" Plato, Sophist c , a. Xenophanes , who proposed the existence of a single, all-powerful god unlike any human conception of deities, likely influenced Parmenides. His ideas were revolutionary in contrast to earlier philosophers, such as Heraclitus, who emphasized constant flux and change.

The accepted dates of his birth and death that are generally accepted are derived from a biography by Diogenes Laërtius. However, since his work was written in the 3rd century AD, it may not be completely accurate. It is almost certainly true, though, that Parmenides lived the bulk of his life in the city where he was born.

The Eleatic School

Elea was a relatively new city at the time, having been founded only a couple of generations before Parmenides&#; birth.

Nevertheless, it became the home of one of the ancient Hellenistic world&#;s most productive philosophical movements.

The Eleatic school played an active part in Greek life for more than a hundred years, and several other first-rank philosophers studied there. Among the best known of Parmenides&#; own students was Zeno, who is said to have invented dialectic and who is remembered today primarily for his paradoxes of logic.

Philosophical Doctrines

Xenophanes of Colophon was a major influence on the young Parmenides, although the little that is known about him suggests that the teachings of Pythagoras were also important factors in his philosophical development.

Many philosophers at that time used poetry to set out their doctrines, and Parmenides named his simply On Nature.

Parmenides’ On Nature

The poem On Nature originally ran to around 3, lines, divided into three sections, but only lines have survived.

Biography of isaac His philosophy, which at first seems counterintuitive, is presented through the allegory of a journey in On Nature , where the narrator presumably Parmenides himself is led by a goddess who reveals the truths about reality. They go along, Deaf and likewise blind, stupefied, tribes without judgment Who suppose that this is and is not is the same And not the same, and that for all the path is backward-turning" DK 28 B 6; D 6. Parmenides can be seen as the first monist, pre-dating the likes of Baruch Spinoza by more than 2, years. He explains drops of water as portions of air that come into and go out existence with changes in the state of air, but the belief that things come into and go out of existence depends for its authority on the weight of tradition.

It begins with a preface about a man who travels out of darkness into light on a chariot, which is an image also found in Plato&#;s works.

After this opening, the most significant section of what remains follows. This makes the important distinction between what really is and what only seems to be.

This deceptively simple statement, that being constitutes everything there is, can be said to mark the point at which Western philosophy truly begins.

This is followed by a third section, which deals with opinion.

Parmenides of elea biography of abraham The senses, which seem to show a world of multiplicity, change, and becoming, deceive us. For Parmenides, the only reliable means of understanding reality is through the intellect, which perceives the unchanging nature of being. Plato was deeply influenced by Parmenides, especially in his development of the theory of Forms. Philosophers like Aristotle tried to explain change without abandoning the notion of being altogether.

Parmenides states that the majority of people live according to what they appear to see and experience, rather than employing true reasoning in order to discover what lies beneath.

The Philosophy of Reason

Parmenides can be seen as the first monist, pre-dating the likes of Baruch Spinoza by more than 2, years. Monism teaches that existence is eternal, unchanging, and undying, and that it is boundless and indivisible.

Parmenides taught that philosophy itself was a way of life, in that philosophers begin a journey in darkness, then travel to the light that illuminates the truth they discover beneath the surface. In this way, conclusions that at first seem astonishing or even impossible can be proved by the use of reason.