PARMENIDES: BIOGRAPHY, THOUGHTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS - PHILOSOPHY - 2024

Parmenides of Elea (514 BC) was a pre-Socratic philosopher who founded the Eleatic school and considered the father of metaphysics. His teachings and contributions have been reconstructed from fragments of his main work On Nature. In addition, it influenced the thinking of Plato and Aristotle.

Parmenides thought that the movement, change and variety of existing things were only apparent and that there was only an eternal reality ("the Being"). It is the principle that "all is one."

Bust of Parmenides, Greek philosopher

Biography

There are no fully reliable records that attest to the day Parmenides was born, although it is believed that this Greek philosopher was born around 515 BC. There are other interpretations that indicate that Parmenides was born around the year 540 BC.

These data are directly related to the founding date of Elea, as the dates associated with these ancient characters were in turn linked to those of the creation of the cities. As for Elea specifically, this city is believed to have been founded between 540 and 530 BC.

In any case, it can be said that Parmenides was born in Elea, a place located on the Campania coast, south of what is now Italy.

It is known that his family was wealthy, and that he lived in a privileged situation; some records indicate that his father's name was Pires. His family members held positions of the nobility, so from a very young age he was linked to various aspects of the political sphere that constituted his context.

Parmenides was a disciple of Xenophanes, a philosopher who is considered in history as the first thinker to consider the unknown of God and its meaning; For this reason, he has been considered the first theologian in history.

Political life

As a disciple of Xenophanes, Parmenides was in direct contact with the management of political situations in the city of Elea, even taking an active part in various changes and proposals.

Parmenides came to make concrete proposals in the field of legislation in his native Elea, even some sources indicate that it was he who wrote the laws of this city. This makes sense because Parmenides came from a powerful and influential family, so he was able to gain access to those positions of power.

Very soon, the inhabitants of this city welcomed the proposals of Parmenides, since they considered that it was he who had created the atmosphere of abundance, prosperity and harmony that existed in Elea at that time.

His vision in this sense had such a positive impact on citizens that a term associated with Parmenides' lifestyle was even generated: “Parmenidian life”. This concept became an ideal that the citizens of Elea wanted to achieve.

Influences

Despite not having much accurate information about this character, there are records that indicate that Parmenides may have been a disciple of Anaximander of Miletus, a Greek geographer and philosopher who was a substitute for Thales and followed his teachings.

Likewise, it is possible that Parmenides followed the teachings of Aminias, a Pythagorean. There is even information that attests that Parmenides built an altar for Aminias once he died.

This Greek philosopher also had disciples; These include Empedocles of Agrigento, who was a physician and philosopher, as well as Zeno, who was only slightly younger than Parmenides and who was also born in Elea.

With Zeno, Parmenides traveled to Athens when he was 65 years old, and there are certain records that indicate that, while there, Socrates heard him speak.

According to the Greek historian Plutarch, the politician Pericles also attended his lessons constantly, and was very interested in his teachings. Parmenides is estimated to have died in 440 BC.

Thought (philosophy)

Parmenides' philosophy has a fairly rational approach, which made him one of the first philosophers to approach reason-based thinking.

One of the main pillars of Parmenides' thought is that the real being could be perceived only through reason and not through the senses. That is, true knowledge could only be accessed effectively and truthfully through rationality, not through sensations.

Thanks to this conception it is considered that Parmenides was the philosopher who gave rise to the idealism proposed by Plato. According to Parmenides, being is permanent and unique. This philosopher indicates that the internal contradiction prevents thought directed towards the search for being.

Ways to reach knowledge

Parmenides' thought emphasizes that there are two ways of reaching knowledge; the way of truth, called alétheia; and the way of opinion, called doxa.

Parmenides states that the only way to get to knowledge is through the first way, and indicates that the second way is full of contradictions and knowledge that is not real, but only appears to be.

The way of opinion has its starting point in non-being; that is, in non-real, non-true elements, which do not exist. According to Parmenides, taking the path of opinion implies accepting non-being, what he considers out of place.

Instead, the way of truth constantly seeks to refer to being, to name it and to give it all the necessary importance. Due to this, Parmenides indicates that this is the only way to approach real knowledge. So, the philosopher stipulates that thought and reality must coexist harmoniously, without any contradiction and objection.

Reason as the basis of perception

For Parmenides, only perceptions based on reason should be considered, which are those that allow one to approach knowledge in the most fruitful way.

Parmenides indicated that when perceptions respond to the senses, it will only be possible to achieve destabilizing elements, because these only echo a context that is in constant transformation.

So the reality that is shown as a result of perception through the senses does not really exist, it is an illusion. It is only a semblance of reality, but it is not about reality as such.

Being as something eternal

Parmenides also establishes that the concept of being is necessarily associated with the concept of eternity. The argument to explain this is that if the being is transformed into something else, then it is no longer, it ceases to be, so it becomes a non-being, and this is impossible.

Then, according to Parmenides, being does not change or transform in any way, but simply is, always the same in all its extension and constitution.

In relation to the birth of being, Parmenides reflects on this by establishing that being could not have been created, because this implies that there was a time when it did not exist, and if something does not exist, it is not.

On the contrary, Parmenides gives being an eternal, imperishable, enduring character that cannot be born or die, because that would imply that it would cease to be.

Indivisibility

Likewise, according to Parmenides, being is indivisible. For this philosopher, division implies the existence of emptiness; that is to say, of not-being. For this reason, it is impossible for being to be divisible, but it has to be considered a single unit.

To explain this concept, Parmenides defines being as a sphere, in which all spaces are made up of the same thing, have the same size and the same constituent elements. So it can be seen as something that cannot be separated and is equal to itself in all its areas.

Another important element of this sphere is its limitation. Parmenides establishes that there are limits that encompass being, as a consequence of the notion that being is not subject to changes and transformations, but corresponds to a unit.

Arche concept

For many years, the Greek philosophers had been reflecting on the origin of all things, and they called this original element arche. Each philosopher associated this arche with a particular element: for some it was a single activator and for others it was a conjunction of elements.

For Parmenides, the arche was not an external element, but the very capacity to be, to exist, which was a common characteristic of all beings. This approach was novel, since the other interpretations of the arche were subject to external elements, coming from nature.

Instead, what Parmenides proposed was to locate that origin of things, which is the same in all beings, from a much more rational vision, leaving aside the traditional naturalistic vision at that time.

So, Parmenides indicated that everything that exists is; on the other hand, what does not exist (such as darkness or silence) is not. According to Parmenides, that which exists is eternal and inexhaustible, and cannot come from non-being, basically because it does not exist.

The fact of "being" implies that all units of being are equal; Parmenides argued that only non-being can be different from each other, because it is the one that creates discontinuity and interruptions within itself. Being cannot create these discontinuities, because then it would become non-being.

Furthermore, Parmenides established that being, in essence, cannot move or change, because to do so it would then be a non-being. Therefore, this philosopher considers that being is immutable.

Plays

About nature

The only known work of Parmenides was his philosophical poem entitled "On Nature." In this poem, Parmenides deals with various themes such as being, truth, the origin of the gods and nature itself.

The greatest novelty of the poem was the methodology of its argumentation, which Parmenides rigorously developed. In his argument Parmenides made a discussion of principles that lay down specific axioms and pursue their implications.

Contributions

Development of the Eleatic school

Among his contributions was the development of the Eleatic school. There, Parmenides became involved in a philosophical activity that tried to give reasons that would explain the way in which the being was cataloged from the ideas of this school.

While some authors affirm that Parmenides was the founder of the Eleatic school, others maintain that Xenophanes was the true founder. However, there is consensus that Parmenides is the most representative philosopher of this school.

Philosophical discussions

Among the contributions of Parmenides, can be counted his criticisms of Heraclitus, who expressed the principles of transformation and illustrated that there was no immobile being that remained the same.

According to Parmenides, Heraclitus made everything impossible when he spoke of everything flowing and nothing remaining. This discussion between pre-Socratics has been one of the pillars of the development of philosophy and many authors still work on these ideas.

Materialism

Parmenides in his work develops ideas close to materialism and that have fostered the development of this current of thought.

Parmenides' considerations on the movement and permanence of being are classified by some as ideas of materialism. This is based on the fact that these ideas deny an illusory world of change and movement and focus on the material, existing and immovable.

Influence on the philosophy of denial

Some philosophers have based their work on what they consider to be Parmenides' denial of the sensible world. This consideration has led to the development of idealistic philosophy, despite the fact that this denial is not literally expressed in the work of Parmenides.

Various interpretations of the way in which he wrote his poem "On Nature" assure that Parmenides not only denied the existence of emptiness as a physical emptiness, but also denied the existence of the sensible world as such.

References

1. Boodin JE The Vision of Parmenides. The Philosophical Review. 1943; 64 (3): 351–369.
2. Davidson T. Parmenides. The Journal of Speculative Philisophy. 1870; 2: 183–203.
3. Kirk AGS Stokes MC Parmenides' Refutation of Motion. Phronesis. 1960; 5 (1): 1–4.
4. Siegel RE Parmenides and the Void. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 2016 22 (2): 264–266.
5. Speranza JL Horn LR A brief history of negation. Journal of Applied Logic. 2010; 8 (3): 277–301
6. Stannard J. Parmenidean Logic. The Philosophical Review. 1960; 69 (4): 526–533.