Parmenides By Troy and Ken

Background Exact date of birth unknown. Sometime early 5th Century BCE Born in Elea, Greek Colony in Italy

Teacher Pupil of Xenophanes Believed in one God, as opposed to two or more Also didn’t believe in Gods in the form of humans Argued for example that if cows could visualize Gods, they would visualize Gods in the image of a cow Influenced Parmenides view on: Opinion vs. Knowledge Existence

Students Founded school of Elea Famous students of the school Zeno Tried to prove there are inconsistencies with the world of appearance and reality Melissus

Parmenides’s Works Wrote the poem “On Nature” Only 160 of 800 verses survived (stanford.edu) Describes a journey to the home of a goddess, where she reveals the Way of Belief and the Way of Truth Way of Belief is false and the view of the majority Way of Truth is the true way to perceive Being

Philosophy Philosophy based on logic through reasoning and not based on the senses Senses are deceitful and not trustworthy Two worlds: World of appearance that is an illusion cast by the senses World of Reality that can be reached thru intellect

Way of Truth Change is impossible Everything that exists has always existed and will exist for the rest of time There are the ‘Being’ and ‘Not Being’ Nothing is produced Nothing creates nothing. A Being can not turn into a Not Being Opinions are formed because of confusion between Being and Not Being

Way of Opinion Gives understanding of the opinions of Men Not necessarily wrong, but it is only based on what the senses perceive which is what the majority of people understand Opinions are formed because of confusion between Being and Not Being

Sense Perception Parmenides Believes that those who trust their senses are fools, and that change is illusory for nothing ever changes Humans should judge reality by reason and not their senses Heraclitus Prefers things that can be experienced with senses to cold reason Thinks the sense are vital for understanding what is true "No man ever steps in the same river twice.”

Influenced Parmenides influenced Plato Plato met Zeno and Parmenides on a visit to Athens Plato created a dialogue named Parmenides after him

Bibliography Italy Map. Web. 11 Feb 2011. <http://www.bugbog.com/images/maps/italy-map.jpg>. PBS Probes The Brain. Web. 11 Feb 2011. <http://www.kued.org/?area=pressReleases&action=details&id=NDA1>. Xenophanes. Web. 11 Feb 2011. <http://www.iep.utm.edu/xenoph/>. lendering, jona. "Parmenides." Livious.org. Livious.org, 2005. Web. 11 Feb 2011. <http://www.livius.org/pan-paz/parmenides/parmenides.html>. "Parmenides." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web. <http://www.iep.utm.edu/parmenid/>. Palmer, John, "Parmenides", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/parmenides/>.