Parménide
What is, is; what is not can neither be thought nor said: being has neither birth nor end.
Life
Parmenides of Elea (c. 515-450 BC) was a Greek philosopher from southern Italy. He wrote a poem, On Nature, of which fragments survive: a goddess distinguishes the way of truth, which says that being is and can neither come to be nor perish, from the way of mortal opinions. His appeal to reason alone against the senses influenced Plato and later metaphysics, and his follower Zeno defended him with paradoxes.
Main works
The Way of Truth claims that being is one, without birth or end, and that what is not cannot be thought.
In his own words
« For thinking and being are the same. »
τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ νοεῖν ἐστίν τε καὶ εἶναι.
« One must say and think that what is, is: for being is, and nothing is not. »
Χρὴ τὸ λέγειν τε νοεῖν τ΄ ἐὸν ἔμμεναι· ἔστι γὰρ εἶναι, μηδὲν δ΄ οὐκ ἔστιν
« It never was nor will be, since it is now, all together, one, continuous. »
οὐδέ ποτ΄ ἦν οὐδ΄ ἔσται, ἐπεὶ νῦν ἔστιν ὁμοῦ πᾶν, ἕν, συνεχές
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceOnly reasoning reaches what truly is; the senses give mere opinion about a world of change.
Parménide, Poème (Voie de la vérité, v. 475 av. J.-C.)
The Way of Truth claims to reach necessary truth about being: what is cannot not be.
Parménide, Poème (Voie de la vérité, v. 475 av. J.-C.)