the greek philosopher Parmenidesof Elea he was the main thinker of the Eleata School. His theories followed the ideas of Xenophanes and aimed to present the immobility and unity as the essence of the emergence of the Universe. Parmenides founded a theory that served as the basis for Platonic philosophy, and its clash with the thought of heraclitus it provided foundations for the philosophy developed by pluralist thinkers.
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Eleatic School
The ideas of Xenophanes gave rise to the thought of the Eleatic School. The thinker argued that the principle of everything would be in unity logic promoted by the existence of a unique and sovereign being, God. This conception was in opposition to the traditional Greek religion, which was essentially polytheistic.
Parmenides was born around 515 BC. a., in the city of Eleia, region of Magna Graecia (currently southern Italy). He continued the philosophy of Xenophanes, deepening the theory about a
unity that would sustain all creation. The third philosopher of the Eleatic School was Zeno of Elea, who formulated a series of paradoxes about the movement. to reaffirm Parmenides' theory, showing that motion was just an appearance that deceives our senses.Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Thoughts
Parmenides' cosmological theory is very different from the theories presented so far, approaching only the principle proposed by Xenophanes. Parmenides did not formulate a cosmological theory based on a principle (arche) material and defined. For the philosopher, there was a kind of organizationrational in the universe that was infinite, one, indivisible, immutable and immobile.
Parmenidian theory was centered on what he called “to be”. The being of things was the fundamental principle, based on a kind of infinite and universal idea. In this way, everything that existed had the “being” within itself. What exists, that is, what possesses being, can be stated and thought about. What does not exist could not, in the philosopher's view, be thought or enunciated. The problem bequeathed to posterity was the problem of error.
For error and lie to exist, the existence of “non-being” is necessary. As “non-being” is not and does not exist, how could the existence of error and falsehood be possible? THE Parmenides' answer was that the non-being, which allowed the error and the lie, it was just an illusion caused by opinion and the senses.
For Parmenides, only that which exists infinitely and immobile was endowed with existence, that is, only through the essences. The essence is what points the being existing in something or someone. This essence is fixed, eternal and unchanging, and the changes we perceive in things are actually the result of our deceptive senses.
“The being is and the non-being is not”, a phrase pronounced by Parmenides, indicates that the being (what exists) is, because it is identical to itself and indicates itself. Non-being is not, as it does not exist, has no identity. Identities are the definitions of a logic rudimentary already used by Parmenides, but still very close to a metaphysics.
The theory of universal immobility, already initiated by Xenophanes and perfected by Parmenides, it was largely used by Christianity to justify the idea of a single, eternal, and unchanging God.
Read too: Learn more about Aristotle's Metaphysics
Constructions
Today there are only fragments of the poem by Parmenides entitled about nature. This poem condenses his entire cosmological theory and clarifies what he means by truth. The poem is composed of three parts, which are a proem, the first part and the second part.
The proem presents the encounter of the lyrical self with a goddess. Such a meeting is not intended to affirm any kind of mystique, but only to present a resource stylistic, as the goddess is the guide that leads the lyrical self to discover the truth and unmask the opinion.
The second part of the poem introduces the via or the path of truth and reason. Fleeing from error, illusion and lies, the lyrical self presents that there is a way in which knowledge is truly secure, as it is centered on monism and immobility.
The third part of the poem introduces the via the opinion (doxa, in Greek) which is the path of deception and uncertainty. It is the path that presents the deceptions and illusions of the senses, opinion and lies, which are not based on the certainty of the essence of being.
The great initial motivation of Parmenides' philosophy was the opposition to the Heraclitian theses about the movement and continuous change of all things. Heraclitus defended that there is a continuous movement (perpetual flow) that permeates everything that exists, causing everything to change every second. The original principle (arche) of the entire universe was fire, as it was the element that allowed for constant change and agitation.
Parmenides, as we saw above, defended completely opposite theses, fixing his theories in the immobility and arguing that change was the result of appearances. The pre-Socratic philosophers who emerged after Heraclitus and Parmenides, classified as pluralists, had the purpose of solving the problem left by these two thinkers. The avenues they resorted to were to explain change and the essence of things through more of an element, which would justify the differences, the changes, but also the essential origin of each thing.
inspiration to Plato
The great inspiration of Platonic philosophy was Parmenides' theory of the being and the concept of things. By claiming that there is a infinite essence, eternal and immutable for everything and that this essence was, precisely, being, Parmenides offered the Plato the tool for the foundation of idealism.
For Plato, the “being” of Parmenides represented the ideas, eternal and immutable. The change was the fruit of appearances and of the mistakes of the senses, which saw only the surfaces, which were imperfect like all matter.
Sentences
"It doesn't matter where I started, I'll always come back there."
"Language is the etiquette of illusory things."
"Because thinking and being are the same."
"The being is and cannot be and the non-being is not and cannot be at all."
by Francisco Porfirio
Philosophy teacher