Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Philosophy Parmenides Parmenides Parmenides was a Pre-Socratic philosopher who lived from 515-445 B.C. He was born in Elea (now Velia), a Greek city in southern Italy. His city was at the far end of the known world on the other side of Greece where Heraclitus and the Ionians lived. He escaped his town to study in Athens, the center of the known world. Most likely he was a student of Anaximander and was also influenced greatly by the teachings of Pythagoras. Parmenides joined the religious and philosophical following of Pythagoras in Crotona. Little is left of Parmenides’ writing. Most of what we have is a poem called Nature, a 160 line piece that has been preserved through the writings of later philosophers. It was written for Parmenides’ greatest protégé, Zeno. Most of his works were fragments written in verse that were documented by Simplicus. Through his philosophies he is known as the father of metaphysics. Parmenides pioneered the radical distinction between the Way of Truth and the Way of Belief or Opinion. He failed to believe that what is nothing could have been something and what is something came from nothing, this diverted from Pyhtagoras’ belief based on opinion and movement and change. Parmenides felt it was absurd to think that something that exists popped out of existence or something justs pops into existence. He thought that if it exists then it has always existed. This also rejected the “sense-appearance” belief that many Pre-Socratic philosophers had followed. Coplestone briefly states Parmenides’ beliefs: “Being, the One, is, and that Becoming, change,it comes either out of being or out of not being. If the former, then it already is-in which case it does not come to be; if the latter, then it is nothing, since out of nothing comes nothing. Becoming is, then, also illusion. Being simply is and Being is One, since the plurality is also illusion.” (pg. 64-65) He is credited with being the first to realize the difference between Reason and Sense, Truth and Appearance. Common sense and his word were on completely different sides of the spectrum in Parmenides’ world. He laid the tenet of idealism but himself was not an idealist. He started the Monastic Materialism movement, a movement where change and movement within the universe are illusionary. He was much more a materialist than a realist, believing the One was sensual and material. According to Parmenides if it can be thought then in is. Parmenides’ beliefs are a little foreign to me. The intense thought that must have gone into his philosophies is staggering. His belief that if it is something then it has always been and if it is nothing then it has never been, since out of nothing comes nothing was revolutionary for his time. Personally metaphysics and the inner workings of the universe is something I fail to have an opinion on. It is so obscure and unimportant that I don’t see the relevance in my life. Not to take anything away from his work but I don’t really understand why he believed what he believed or the significance of his beliefs. Something about Parmenides’ that really impresses me is how he was able to have his own opinions and follow his own philosophies that were contradictory to Pyhtagoras’ theories. Parmenides’ ability to break free from the views of a great philosopher like Pythagoras’ that he followed so intently shows how strongly Parmenides believed in his own personal philosophy. Parmenides’ distinction between truth and opinion still holds merit today. People often confused wise person’s and philosopher’s opinions with truth. Both truth and opinions are important aspects to philosophy but the distinction between the two is even more important. Without the search for truth and the base of opinions to test for truthfulness philosophy as an institution would fail to exist. Parmenides was a very important philosopher. His influences on later philosophers are easily documented as many of them commented on his beliefs and philosophies. His philosophies laid a foundation for future questioning about the basic make-up of our universe. Bibliography: Bibliography 1) Coplestone, Frederick. A History of Philosophy- Greece and Rome. New York: Image Books,1962. (pgs 64-70). 2) Kolak, Daniel. Lovers of Wisdom-Parmenides’ Biography. Online. Internet. 1997. Available www.wpunj.edu/conss/philosophy/LOVERS/bio39.html Word Count: 681
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