Pre-Socratic Philosophers Parm

A detailed Summary of Pre-Socratic Philosophers Parm

Parmenides (pronounced as: parmenidz) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and poet, as well as a leading figure of the Eleatic school of philosophy. Son of Pyres, Parmenides was born of an illustrious family in Elea between B.C. 505-515. Elea was a colony located in southern Italy and said to be founded by refugees from Phocia in 540-539 B.C.

Parmenides was held in high esteem by his fellow-citizens for his excellent legislation, to which they attributed the prosperity and wealth of the town. He was also admired for his exemplary life. A "Parmenidean life" was proverbial among the Greeks. Parmenides is believed to have died sometime around 450 B.C.

Parmenides' great contribution to philosophy was the method of reasoned proof for assertions. Only fragments of his work have survived. These include parts of his poem said to be "on nature" which contains a prologue and two additional parts called The Way of Truth and The Way of Seeming. About one hundred and fifty lines, amounting perhaps to one third of the original poem, have survived the ages

Parmenides used sophisticated logical language in his epic poem to argue that all of reality is a single, unchanging substance. He began h

The narrower rings are filled with unmixed fire, those next to them with night; and into the midst of these a portion of fire is discharged. In the middle of these is the goddess who steers all things...

But since there is a furthest limit, it is complete on every side, like the body of a well-rounded sphere, evenly balanced in every direction from the middle; for it cannot be any greater or any less in one place than in another. For neither is there what is not, which would stop it from reaching its like, nor could what is possibly be more in one place and less than another, since it is inviolable. For being equal to itself in every direction it nevertheless meets with its limits.

Parmenides then describes the structure and arrangement of the heavens and earth:

With these words, the goddess describes how mortals go astray from (Parmenides' theory of) what is real by breaking up the unity of 'being': thinking that 'being' is made up of opposites (ie. light and night). Parmenides thought that 'being' is 'all alike'; there could not be two forms of it. However, in order to explain things like "the earth and sun and moon, the Milky Way and outermost Olympus, and the burning might of the stars" Parmenides had to compromise his theory a little by allowing the existence of a minimum of two forms of 'being'. However, he explained that these two forms of 'being' conform to the requirements that he had laid down as applying to 'being':

Here I end my trustworthy account and thought concerning truth. Learn henceforth the beliefs of mortals, harkening to the deceitful ordering of my words. For they have made up their minds to name two forms...and have distinguished them as opposite in bodily form and have assigned to them marks distinguishing them from one another: to one ethereal flame of fire, which is gentle, very light, the same with itself in every direction but not the same with the other. That other too is opposite: dark night, dense in bodily form and heavy. The whole arrangement of these I tell to you as it seems likely.

But now that all things have been named light and night, and their powers have been assigned to each, everything is full at once of light and obscure night, both equally, since neither has a share in nothingness.

In The Way of Truth , Parmenides explains his theory of what is real through the character of the goddess who knows all and can see the misperceptions of mortals. He points out that in all thinking we seem at first sight to be confronted with a choice: we can think about what 'is', or we can think about what 'is not'. But in fact, according to Parmenides, this choice is an illusion; we cannot think about what 'is not' because it is impossible to think about nothing. A person cannot think at all without thinking of something - something that exists as an object for thought. Parmenides expresses this idea by saying that thinking and 'being' are the 'same' in the sense that they are inseparable; you cannot have one without the other. He explains this idea with the words "you will not find thinking apart from what is" ; for a person thinks of what 'is'. The existence of something is the basis of all thinking, and because it 'is' (it exists), we cannot think its nonexistence; it not only 'is' but, as Parmenides puts it, "it is impossible for it not to be." He writes that "it is necessary to speak and to thin

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2289
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

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