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Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia. Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His dates are uncertain; according to doxographer Diogenes Laërtius, he flourished just before 500 BC, which would put his year of birth near 540 BC, but in the dialogue '' Parmenides''
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
has him visiting
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
at the age of 65, when Socrates was a young man, c. 450 BC, which, if true, suggests a year of birth of c. 515 BC. He is thought to have been in his prime (or " floruit") around 475 BC. The single known work by Parmenides is a poem whose original title is unknown but which is often referred to as ''On Nature.'' Only fragments of it survive. In his poem, Parmenides prescribes two views of
reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, re ...
. The first, the Way of " Alethia" or truth, describes how all reality is one, change is impossible, and existence is timeless and uniform. The second view, the way of " Doxa", or opinion, describes the world of appearances, in which one's sensory faculties lead to conceptions which are false and deceitful. Parmenides has been considered the founder of
ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophy, philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, Becoming (philosophy), becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into Category ...
and has, through his influence on
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
, influenced the whole history of
Western philosophy Western philosophy encompasses the philosophy, philosophical thought and work of the Western world. Historically, the term refers to the philosophical thinking of Western culture, beginning with the ancient Greek philosophy of the Pre-Socratic p ...
. He is also considered to be the founder of the Eleatic school of
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
, which also included Zeno of Elea and Melissus of Samos. Zeno's paradoxes of motion were developed to defend Parmenides' views. In contemporary philosophy, Parmenides' work has remained relevant in debates about the
philosophy of time Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. S ...
.


Biography

Parmenides was born in Elea (called Velia in Roman times), a city located in Magna Graecia. Diogenes Laertius says that his father was Pires, and that he belonged to a rich and noble family. Laertius also transmits two divergent sources in as regards the teacher of the philosopher. One, dependent on Sotion, indicates that he was first a student of Xenophanes, but did not follow him, and later became associated with a Pythagorean, Aminias, whom he preferred as his teacher. Another tradition, dependent on Theophrastus, indicates that he was a disciple of Anaximander.


Chronology

Everything related to the chronology of Parmenides - the date of his birth, of his death, as well as the time of his philosophical activity - is uncertain;


Date of Birth

All conjectures about Parmenides' date of birth are based on two ancient sources. One comes from
Apollodorus Apollodorus (Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: :''Note: A f ...
and is transmitted to us by Diogenes Laertius: this source marks the Olympiad 69th (between 504 BC and 500 BC) as the moment of maturity, placing his birth 40 years earlier (
544 BC The year 544 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 210 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 544 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...
540 BC The year 540 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 214 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 540 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...
). The other is
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
, in his dialogue '' Parmenides''. There Plato composes a situation in which Parmenides, 65, and
Zeno Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...
, 40, travel to
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
to attend the Panathenaic Games . On that occasion they meet Socrates, who was still very young according to the Platonic text. The inaccuracy of the dating from Apollodorus is well known, who chooses the date of a historical event to make it coincide with the maturity —the '' floruit''— of a philosopher, a maturity that they invariably reached at forty years of age. He also tries to always match the maturity of a philosopher with the birth of his alleged disciple. In this case Apollodorus, according to Burnet, based his date of the foundation of Elea (
540 BC The year 540 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 214 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 540 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...
) to chronologically locate the maturity of Xenophanes and thus the birth of his supposed disciple, Parmenides.Burnet, ''Early Greek Philosophy'', pp. 169ff. Knowing this, Burnet and later classicists like Cornford, Raven, Guthrie, and Schofield preferred to base the calculations on the Platonic dialogue. According to the latter, the fact that Plato adds so much detail regarding ages in his text is a sign that he writes with chronological precision. Plato says that Socrates was very young, and this is interpreted to mean that he was less than twenty years old. We know the year of Socrates' death, 399 BC., And his age: he was about seventy years old. That is why we also know the date of his birth: 469 BC The Panathenaic games were held every four years, and of those held during Socrates' youth (454, 450, 446), the most likely is that of
450 BC 45 may refer to: * 45 (number) * one of the years 45 BC, AD 45, 1945, 2045 Film * ''45'' (film), directed by Peter Coster (2009) * ''.45'' (film), directed by Gary Lennon (2006) Music * ''45'' (Jaguares album), 2008 * ''45'' (Kino album), 1982 * ...
, when Socrates was 19 years old. And, if at this meeting Parmenides was about 65 years old, his birth occurred around
515 BC The year 515 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 239 ''Ab urbe condita'' . The denomination 515 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...
Cornford, ''Plato and Parmenides'', p. 1.Guthrie, ''History of Greek Philosophy'', II, p. 15ff.Cordero, ''Siendo se es'', pp. 20-23 However, neither Raven nor Schofield, who follows the former, finds a dating based on a late Platonic dialogue entirely satisfactory. Other scholars directly prefer not to use the Platonic testimony and propose other dates. According to a scholar of the
Platonic dialogues Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institut ...
, R. Hirzel, Conrado Eggers Lan indicates that the historical has no value for Plato. The fact that the meeting between Socrates and Parmenides is also mentioned in the dialogues ''Theaetetus'' (183e) and ''Sophist'' (217c) only indicates that it is referring to the same fictional event, and this is possible because both the ''Theaetetus'' and the ''Sophist'' are considered after the ''Parmenides''. In ''Soph.'' 217c the dialectic procedure of Socrates is attributed to Parmenides, which would confirm that this is nothing more than a reference to the fictitious dramatic situation of the dialogue. Eggers Lan also proposes a correction of the traditional date of the foundation of Elea. Based on
Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...
I, 163–167, which indicates that the Phocians, after defeating the
Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...
in naval battle, founded Elea, and adding the reference to Thucydides I, 13, where it is indicated that such a battle occurred in the time of Cambyses II, the foundation of Elea can be placed between 530 BC and 522 BC So Parmenides could not have been born before 530 BC or after 520 BC, given that it predates Empedocles. This last dating procedure is not infallible either, because it has been questioned that the fact that links the passages of Herodotus and Thucydides is the same. Nestor Luis Cordero also rejects the chronology based on the Platonic text, and the historical reality of the encounter, in favor of the traditional date of Apollodorus. He follows the traditional datum of the founding of Elea in 545 BC, pointing to it not only as '' terminus post quem'', but as a possible date of Parmenides' birth. From which he concludes that his parents were part of the founding contingent of the city, and that he was a contemporary of Heraclitus. The evidence also suggests that Parmenides could not have written much after the death of Heraclitus.


Timeline relative to other Presocratics

Beyond the speculations and inaccuracies about his date of birth, some specialists have turned their attention to certain passages of his work to specify the relationship of Parmenides with other thinkers. It was thought to find in his poem certain controversial allusions to the doctrine of Anaximenes and the Pythagoreans (fragment B 8, verse 24, and frag. B 4), and also against Heraclitus (frag .B 6, vv.8–9), while Empedocles and Anaxagoras frequently refer to Parmenides. The reference to Heraclitus has been debated. Bernays's thesis that Parmenides attacks Heraclitus, to which Diels, Kranz, Gomperz, Burnet and others adhered, was discussed by Reinhardt, whom Jaeger followed. Guthrie finds it surprising that Heraclitus would not have censured Parmenides if he had known him, as he did with Xenophanes and
Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His poli ...
. His conclusion, however, does not arise from this consideration, but points out that, due to the importance of his thought, Parmenides splits the history of pre-Socratic philosophy in two, therefore his position with respect to other thinkers it is easy to determine. And, from this point of view, the philosophy of Heraclitus seems to him pre-Parmenidean, while those of Empedocles, Anaxagoras and Democritus are post-Parmenidean.


Anecdotes

Plutarch,
Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...
and
Diogenes Diogenes ( ; grc, Διογένης, Diogénēs ), also known as Diogenes the Cynic (, ) or Diogenes of Sinope, was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism (philosophy). He was born in Sinope, an Ionian colony on the Black Sea ...
—following the testimony of Speusippus— agree that Parmenides participated in the government of his city, organizing it and giving it a code of admirable laws.


Archaeological Discovery

In 1969, the plinth of a statue dated to the 1st century AD was excavated in Velia. On the plinth were four words: ΠΑ �ΕΝΕΙΔΗΣ ΠΥΡΗΤΟΣ ΟΥΛΙΑΔΗΣ ΦΥΣΙΚΟΣ. The first two clearly say «Parmenides, son of Pires». The fourth word φυσικός (''fysikós'', "physicist") was commonly used to designate philosophers who devoted themselves to the observation of nature. On the other hand, there is no agreement on the meaning of the third (οὐλιάδης, ''ouliadēs''): it can simply mean "a native of Elea" (the name "Velia" is in Greek Οὐέλια), or "belonging to the Οὐλιος" (''Ulios''), that is, to a medical school (whose patron was
Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
Ulius). If this last hypothesis were true, then Parmenides would be, in addition to being a legislator, a doctor. The hypothesis is reinforced by the ideas contained in fragment 18 of his poem, which contains anatomical and physiological observations. However, other specialists believe that the only certainty we can extract from the discovery is that of the social importance of Parmenides in the life of his city, already indicated by the testimonies that indicate his activity as a legislator.


Visit to Athens

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
, in his dialogue '' Parmenides'', relates that, accompanied by his disciple Zeno of Elea, Parmenides visited
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
when he was approximately 65 years old and that, on that occasion, Socrates, then a young man, conversed with him.
Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of ...
of Naucratis had noted that, although the ages make a dialogue between Parmenides and Socrates hardly possible, the fact that Parmenides has sustained arguments similar to those sustained in the
Platonic dialogue Socratic dialogue ( grc, Σωκρατικὸς λόγος) is a genre of literary prose developed in Greece at the turn of the fourth century BC. The earliest ones are preserved in the works of Plato and Xenophon and all involve Socrates as the p ...
is something that seems impossible. Most modern classicists consider the visit to Athens and the meeting and conversation with Socrates to be fictitious. Allusions to this visit in other Platonic works are only references to the same fictitious dialogue and not to a historical fact.See ''Theaetetus'' 183e; ''Sophist'' 217c; see also «Introduction» to the dialogue ''Parménides'' by M.ª Isabel Santa Cruz, p. 11


''On Nature''

Parmenides' sole work, which has only survived in fragments, is a poem in dactylic hexameter, later titled ''On Nature.'' Approximately 160 verses remain today from an original total that was probably near 800. The poem was originally divided into three parts: An introductory proem that contains an allegorical narrative which explains the purpose of the work, a former section known as "The Way of Truth" (''
aletheia ''Aletheia'' or Alethia (; grc, ἀλήθεια) is truth or disclosure in philosophy. Originating in Ancient Greek philosophy, the term was later used in the works of 20th-century philosopher Martin Heidegger. Although often translated as " ...
'', ἀλήθεια), and a latter section known as "The Way of Appearance/Opinion" ('' doxa'', δόξα). Despite the poem's fragmentary nature, the general plan of both the proem and the first part, "The Way of Truth" have been ascertained by modern scholars, thanks to large excerpts made by Sextus Empiricus and Simplicius of Cilicia. Unfortunately, the second part, "The Way of Opinion," which is supposed to have been much longer than the first, only survives in small fragments and prose paraphrases.


Introduction

The introductory proem describes the narrator's journey to receive a revelation from an unnamed goddess on the nature of reality. The remainder of the work is then presented as the spoken revelation of the goddess without any accompanying narrative. The narrative of the poet's journey includes a variety of allegorical symbols, such as a speeding chariot with glowing axles, horses, the House of Night, Gates of the paths of Night and Day, and maidens who are "the daughters of the Sun" who escort the poet from the ordinary daytime world to a strange destination, outside our human paths. The allegorical themes in the poem have attracted a variety of different interpretations, including comparisons to
Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
and
Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...
, and attempts to relate the journey towards either enlightenment or darkness, but there is little scholarly consensus about any interpretation, and the surviving evidence from the poem itself, as well as any other literary use of allegory from the same time period, may be too sparse to ever determine any of the intended symbolism with certainty.


''The Way of Truth''

In the ''Way of Truth'', an estimated 90% of which has survived, Parmenides distinguishes between the unity of nature and its variety, insisting in the ''Way of Truth'' upon the reality of its unity, which is therefore the object of knowledge, and upon the unreality of its variety, which is therefore the object, not of knowledge, but of opinion. This contrasts with the argument in the section called "the way of opinion," which discusses that which is illusory.


''The Way of Opinion''

In the significantly longer, but far worse preserved latter section of the poem, ''Way of Opinion'', Parmenides propounds a theory of the world of seeming and its development, pointing out, however, that, in accordance with the principles already laid down, these cosmological speculations do not pretend to anything more than mere appearance. The structure of the cosmos is a fundamental binary principle that governs the manifestations of all the particulars: "the aether fire of flame" (B 8.56), which is gentle, mild, soft, thin and clear, and self-identical, and the other is "ignorant night", body thick and heavy. Cosmology originally comprised the greater part of his poem, explaining the world's origins and operations. Some idea of the sphericity of the Earth also seems to have been known to Parmenides.


Disproof by Aristotle


Legacy

As the first of the Eleatics, Parmenides is generally credited with being the philosopher who first defined ontology as a separate discipline distinct from theology. His most important pupil was
Zeno Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...
, who appears alongside him in Plato's ''Parmenides'' where they debate dialectic with Socrates. The pluralist theories of Empedocles and Anaxagoras and the atomist Leucippus, and Democritus have also been seen as a potential response to Parmenides' arguments and conclusions. Parmenides is also mentioned in Plato's '' Sophist'' and ''
Theaetetus Theaetetus (Θεαίτητος) is a Greek name which could refer to: * Theaetetus (mathematician) (c. 417 BC – 369 BC), Greek geometer * ''Theaetetus'' (dialogue), a dialogue by Plato, named after the geometer * Theaetetus (crater) Theaetetus ...
.'' Later Hellenistic doxographers also considered Parmenides to have been a pupil of Xenophanes. Eusebius, quoting
Aristocles of Messene Aristocles of Messene (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοκλῆς ὁ Μεσσήνιος), in Sicily,Suda, ''Aristokles'' was a Peripatetic philosopher, who probably lived in the 1st century AD. He may have been the teacher of Alexander of Aphrodisias. ...
, says that Parmenides was part of a line of skeptical philosophy that culminated in Pyrrhonism. Parmenides' proto- monism of the One also influenced Plotinus and
Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some ...
.


Notes


Explanatory notes


Fragments


Citations


Bibliography


Ancient testimony

In the Diels-Kranz numbering for testimony and fragments of
Pre-Socratic philosophy Pre-Socratic philosophy, also known as early Greek philosophy, is ancient Greek philosophy before Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the universe, but the inquiries of th ...
, Parmenides is catalogued as number 28. The most recent edition of this catalogue is: .


Life and doctrines

*A1. *A2. *A3. *A4. *A5. *A6. *A7. *A8. *A9. *A10. *A11. *A12.


Fragments

* *


Modern scholarship

* * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * *Bakalis, Nikolaos (2005), ''Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis and Fragments'', Trafford Publishing, * *Cordero, Nestor-Luis (2004), ''By Being, It Is: The Thesis of Parmenides''. Parmenides Publishing, *Cordero, Néstor-Luis (ed.), ''Parmenides, Venerable and Awesome (Plato, Theaetetus 183e)'' Las Vegas: Parmenides Publishing 2011. Proceedings of the International Symposium (Buenos Aires, 2007), *Coxon,but A. H. (2009), ''The Fragments of Parmenides: A Critical Text With Introduction and Translation, the Ancient Testimonia and a Commentary''. Las Vegas, Parmenides Publishing (new edition of Coxon 1986), *Curd, Patricia (2011), ''A Presocratics Reader: Selected Fragments and Testimonia'', Hackett Publishing, (Second edition Indianapolis/Cambridge 2011) *Hermann, Arnold (2005), ''To Think Like God: Pythagoras and Parmenides-The Origins of Philosophy'', Fully Annotated Edition, Parmenides Publishing, *Hermann, Arnold (2010), ''Plato's Parmenides: Text, Translation & Introductory Essay'', Parmenides Publishing, *Mourelatos, Alexander P. D. (2008). ''The Route of Parmenides: A Study of Word, Image, and Argument in the Fragments''. Las Vegas: Parmenides Publishing. (First edition Yale University Press 1970) *Palmer, John. (2009). ''Parmenides and Presocratic Philosophy.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press. :''Extensive bibliography (up to 2004) b
Nestor-Luis Cordero
and annotated bibliography b

'


External links

*

* ttps://www.ontology.co/parmenides.htm Parmenides and the Question of Being in Greek Thoughtwith a selection of critical judgments
Parmenides of Elea: Critical Editions and Translations
– annotated list of the critical editions and of the English, German, French, Italian and Spanish translations

– parallel Greek with links to Perseus, French, and English (Burnet) includes Parmenides article from Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition * * {{Authority control 5th-century BC Greek people 5th-century BC philosophers 5th-century BC poets 510s BC births 450s BC deaths Ancient Greek shamans Eleatic philosophers Ancient Greek epistemologists Ancient Greek ethicists Ancient Greek philosophers Founders of philosophical traditions History of philosophy Intellectual history Lucanian Greeks Ancient Greek metaphysicians Natural philosophers Ontologists Ontology Philosophers of Magna Graecia Ancient Greek philosophers of mind Philosophers of religion Philosophers of time Presocratic philosophers Pythagoreans Reality People from the Province of Salerno