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Parmenides of Elea (early 5th Century BC ) was an Ancient Greek Philosopher born in Elea , a Hellenic city on the southern coast of Italy . Parmenides was a student of Ameinias and the founder of the School Of Elea , which also included Zeno Of Elea and Melissus Of Samos . He is one of the most significant of the ) 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 Preceding Parmenides was Heraclitus . Heraclitus concluded, after a period of Introspection , that the only permanent fact about the world was that everything is subject to flux or change. This means, simplified, that from moment to moment, everything changes, hence, calling into question the idea of a fixed nature in things. As a river's waters are always moving, so is the entirety of the earth, space, and all matter. Seeing Heraclitus' philosophy as insufficient, Parmenides set out to give a fuller account of permanence. First, he noted, that thought and logic must be much more stable bases for belief than the evidence of the senses (which Heraclitus saw as primary) Hence, if reason dictates that 'what is, is' all which our senses perceive as 'change' is necessarily, an illusion. Consequently there can be there is no movement, beginning, end, or change. The Logic of the Theory The logic supporting the theory is as follows: #One should not think of what is not, for then he will be thinking of nothing. #If one never thinks of what is not, he will not think of a beginning or end. What is not precedes beginnings and follows ends, thus it is impossible to fathom beginnings and ends. #One never, then, thinks of change, for with every change there is something which is not which either precedes or follows. #If one never thinks of change, one can never think of movement for with all movement comes change. #If all the above happens, then what the senses sense is a massive illusion. Despite the logic explained above, the theory can be proven wrong. One is able think of what is not, and with the ability to fathom a void, nothing--disproving the basis for which the theory based--the theory crumbles. There was, during Parmenides' time, no finite rules concerning negatives in greek, thus the theory made perfect sense and was even, in a sense, revolutionary. Many philosophers after Parmenides used parts of his theory to construct their own. These philosophers include: Empedocles , Anaxagoras , Leucippus , and Democritus . PHILOSOPHY 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 once, nor will [it be, since 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 / Thatexists 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 through sensual Perception . Only pure 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 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING An extensive bibliography is available here , an even more extensive here EXTERNAL LINKS
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