Greek Philosopher Parmenides of Elea
Significant Presocratic Thinker and His Ancient Philosophy
Aug 2, 2009
Parmenides of Elea (c. 510 – 470 BC) was the founder of the Eleatic school of Greek Philosophy. Little is known of his life and background. His main surviving work is "The Way of Truth" from his poem On Nature.
Developing the concept of "being" in contrast to the Heraclitean's idea of "becoming," Parmenides taught that "being" is eternal, indivisible, immutable, and limited.
Parmenides Poem On Nature
On Nature is Parmenides' only known work. Nevertheless, it contains one of the first examples of reasoned argument, perhaps in response to Heraclitus, as an attempt to prove that change is impossible and that reality is singular, undivided and homogeneous.
The first part of it, "The Way of Truth," he claims, is revealed to him in meeting with a goddess, he distinguishes between an inquiry into what is and what is not, and that the latter is impossible.
The Argument of Parmenides
Parmenides argues that "One cannot know that which is not — that is impossible —nor utter it; for it is the same thing that can be thought, that is."
The argument turns on two complex issues:
- First, what exactly is meant by "exists" in his context, and the difference between existing in the world and existing in the mind. Eventually, this began a controversy that reappeared throughout much of the history of philosophy in many different contexts some 1,500 years later.
- Second, what are the connections between thoughts, words, and things. It's been said that if this debate started with Parmenides, it must have challenged every major thinker ever since, including the 20th century philosophers such as Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein, among others.
Since Parmenides thought that to think of something is to give it some semblance of existence, it follows that one can only think of that which is. From this, comes his second part of deductive reasoning – which became known to be the first example of a formal deduction in the history of Western thought.
According to him, to think of anything that is, implies the existence of something that is not. If something is blue, it is not green. If something is a man, it is not a dog. Since by his previous argument he has shown that negative existential claims are impossible, it seems that one cannot make positive existential discriminations either.
Therefore it follows that in this world, one cannot logically discriminate between different things. As Parmenides concludes, one can only say that everything is - and the true nature of reality, that which is, must be that of an undivided, homogeneous, single entity.
Parmenides Attempts to Show Impossibility of Change
He also attempts to show, by similar argument, that change is likewise impossible. If one can think of something that will exist in the future, then the thought must exist in the person at the present time. Therefore, he concludes, that change is illusory: that everything is one, undivided, changeless and eternal.
Despite his unsound argument to the modern thinker, it would not be until the rise of modern philosophical logic in the late 19th century that negative existential claims would be clearly understood.
Significance of Parmenides Philosophy
His attempt at logical deduction is historically important as it was a stepping stone by which Aristotle perfected his work. Parmenides highlighted the logical implications inherent in the notions of existence and the relationship between thought, reality and language.
Sources:
- Clark, John, Ed. Illustrated Biographical Dictionary. London, Chancellor Press, 1994.
- McGovern, Una, Ed. Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers, 2002.
- Stokes, Philip. Philosphy, the Great Thinkers. London: Capella, 2007.
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