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56-403: Responding to the claims of Parmenides on the impossibility of change, Anaxagoras introduced the concept of Nous ( Cosmic Mind) as an ordering force. He also gave several novel scientific accounts of natural phenomena, including the notion of panspermia , that life exists throughout the universe and could be distributed everywhere. He deduced a correct explanation for eclipses and described

112-548: A city located in Magna Graecia . Diogenes Laertius says that his father was Pires, and that he belonged to a rich and noble family. Laertius transmits two divergent sources regarding the teacher of the philosopher. One, dependent on Sotion , indicates that he was first a student of Xenophanes , but did not follow him, and later became associated with a Pythagorean , Aminias, whom he preferred as his teacher. Another tradition, dependent on Theophrastus , indicates that he

168-542: A mass of red-hot metal, that the Moon is earthy, and that the stars are fiery stones. He thought that the Earth was flat and floated supported by 'strong' air under it, and that disturbances in this air sometimes caused earthquakes. He introduced the notion of panspermia , that life exists throughout the universe and could be distributed everywhere. He attempted to give a scientific account of eclipses , meteors , rainbows , and

224-474: A pupil of Xenophanes . Eusebius of Caesarea , quoting Aristocles of Messene , says that Parmenides was part of a line of skeptical philosophy that culminated in Pyrrhonism for he, by the root, rejects the validity of perception through the senses whilst, at any rate, it is first through our five forms of senses that we become aware of things and then by faculty of reasoning. Parmenides's proto- monism of

280-568: A separate discipline distinct from theology. His most important pupil was Zeno , who appears alongside him in Plato's Parmenides where they debate dialectic with Socrates . The pluralist theories of Empedocles and Anaxagoras and the atomist Leucippus , and Democritus have also been seen as a potential response to Parmenides's arguments and conclusions. Parmenides is also mentioned in Plato's Sophist and Theaetetus . Later Hellenistic doxographers also considered Parmenides to have been

336-889: A simple continuous action." Nietzsche believes it is essential to understand Anaxagoras's nous as a sort of act of free will, not determined by any previous action before. In the Diels-Kranz numbering for testimony and fragments of Pre-Socratic philosophy , Anaxagoras is catalogued as number 59. The most recent edition of this catalogue is Diels, Hermann; Kranz, Walther (1957). Plamböck, Gert (ed.). Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (in Ancient Greek and German). Rowohlt. ISBN   5-87560-741-6 . Retrieved 11 April 2022 . Parmenides Parmenides of Elea ( / p ɑːr ˈ m ɛ n ɪ d iː z  ...   ˈ ɛ l i ə / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης ; fl. late sixth or early fifth century BC)

392-536: A statue dated to the 1st century AD was excavated in Velia . On the plinth were four words: ΠΑ[Ρ]ΜΕΝΕΙΔΗΣ ΠΥΡΗΤΟΣ ΟΥΛΙΑΔΗΣ ΦΥΣΙΚΟΣ. The first two clearly read "Parmenides, son of Pires." The fourth word φυσικός ( fysikós , "physicist") was commonly used to designate philosophers who devoted themselves to the observation of nature. On the other hand, there is no agreement on the meaning of the third (οὐλιάδης, ouliadēs ): it can simply mean "a native of Elea" (the name "Velia"

448-446: A thing of finer texture, alike in all its manifestations and everywhere the same. This subtle agent, possessed of all knowledge and power, is especially seen ruling all life forms. Its first appearance, and the only manifestation of it which Anaxagoras describes, is Motion. It gave distinctness and reality to the aggregates of like parts. Decrease and growth represent a new aggregation ( σὐγκρισις ) and disruption ( διάκρισις ). However,

504-543: A young man, conversed with him. Athenaeus of Naucratis had noted that, although the ages make a dialogue between Parmenides and Socrates hardly possible, the fact that Parmenides has sustained arguments similar to those sustained in the Platonic dialogue is something that seems impossible. Most modern classicists consider the visit to Athens and the meeting and conversation with Socrates to be fictitious. Allusions to this visit in other Platonic works are only references to

560-556: Is also mentioned in Seneca's Natural Questions (Book 4B, originally Book 3: On Clouds, Hail, Snow). It reads: "Why should I too allow myself the same liberty as Anaxagoras allowed himself?" The Roman author Valerius Maximus preserves a different tradition; Anaxagoras, coming home from a long voyage, found his property in ruin, and said: "If this had not perished, I would have"—a sentence described by Valerius as being "possessed of sought-after wisdom". Dante Alighieri places Anaxagoras in

616-407: Is easy to determine. From this point of view, the philosophy of Heraclitus seems to him pre-Parmenidean, while those of Empedocles, Anaxagoras and Democritus are post-Parmenidean. Plutarch , Strabo and Diogenes —following the testimony of Speusippus —agree that Parmenides participated in the government of his city, organizing it and giving it a code of admirable laws. In 1969, the plinth of

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672-497: Is gentle, mild, soft, thin and clear, and self-identical, and the other is "ignorant night", body thick and heavy. Cosmology originally comprised the greater part of his poem, explaining the world's origins and operations. Some idea of the sphericity of the Earth also seems to have been known to Parmenides. As the first of the Eleatics , Parmenides is generally credited with being the philosopher who first defined ontology as

728-477: Is in Greek Οὐέλια), or "belonging to the Οὐλιος" ( Ulios ), that is, to a medical school (the patron of which was Apollo Ulius). If this last hypothesis were true, then Parmenides would be, in addition to being a legislator, a doctor. The hypothesis is reinforced by the ideas contained in fragment 18 of his poem, which contains anatomical and physiological observations. However, other specialists believe that

784-590: Is located on the Dardanelles , near the modern Turkish town of Sütlüce, Gelibolu . At its mouth was the scene of the decisive battle in 405 BC in which Lysander destroyed the Athenian fleet, ending the Peloponnesian War . The ancient Greek township of the same name, whose existence is attested by coins of the 5th and 4th centuries, and the river itself were located in ancient Thrace in

840-526: Is nothing more than a reference to the fictitious dramatic situation of the dialogue. Eggers Lan proposes a correction of the traditional date of the foundation of Elea. Based on Herodotus I, 163–167, which indicates that the Phocians , after defeating the Carthaginians in naval battle, founded Elea, and adding the reference to Thucydides I, 13, where it is indicated that such a battle occurred in

896-499: Is the ancient Greek name for a small river or rivers issuing into the Hellespont (Modern Turkish Çanakkale Boğazı ), northeast of Sestos . Aegospotami is plural, which suggests that the name may have referred to multiple rivers. As is often the case, interpretation of geography described by ancient sources has difficulties, not the least of which is evolution of the terrain, and the river or rivers have been identified with both

952-412: Is well known, who chooses the date of a historical event to make it coincide with the maturity (the floruit ) of a philosopher, a maturity that he invariably reached at forty years of age. He tries to always match the maturity of a philosopher with the birth of his alleged disciple. In this case Apollodorus, according to Burnet , based his date of the foundation of Elea (540 BC) to chronologically locate

1008-623: The Chersonese . According to ancient sources including Pliny the Elder and Aristotle , in 467 BC a large meteorite landed near Aegospotami. It was described as brown in colour and the size of a wagon load. A comet, tentatively identified as Halley's Comet , was reported at the time the meteorite landed. This is possibly the first European record of Halley's comet. 40°19′55″N 26°36′00″E  /  40.332°N 26.6°E  / 40.332; 26.6 This article about

1064-641: The Sun , which he described as a mass of blazing metal, larger than the Peloponnese ; he also said that the Moon had mountains, and he believed that it was inhabited. The heavenly bodies, he asserted, were masses of stone torn from the Earth and ignited by rapid rotation. His theories about eclipses, the Sun, and Moon may well have been based on observations of the eclipse of 463 BCE, which was visible in Greece. Anaxagoras

1120-564: The First Circle of Hell (Limbo) in his Divine Comedy ( Inferno , Canto IV, line 137). Chapter 5 in Book II of De Docta Ignorantia (1440) by Nicholas of Cusa is dedicated to the truth of the sentence "Each thing is in each thing" which he attributes to Anaxagoras. Anaxagoras appears as a character in the second Act of Faust, Part II by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . Friedrich Nietzsche also frequently mentions Anaxagoras in

1176-668: The One also influenced Plotinus and Neoplatonism . In the Diels–Kranz numbering for testimony and fragments of Pre-Socratic philosophy , Parmenides is catalogued as number 28. The most recent edition of this catalogue is: Diels, Hermann; Kranz, Walther (1957). Plamböck, Gert (ed.). Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (in Ancient Greek and German). Rowohlt. ISBN   5875607416 . Retrieved 11 April 2022 . Aegospotami Aegospotami ( Ancient Greek : Αἰγὸς Ποταμοί , Aigos Potamoi ) or Aegospotamos (i.e. Goat Streams )

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1232-697: The Persian side), or at some point when he was a bit older, around 456 BCE. While at Athens, he became close with the Athenian statesman Pericles . According to Diogenes Laërtius and Plutarch , in later life he was charged with impiety and went into exile in Lampsacus ; the charges may have been political, owing to his association with Pericles , if they were not fabricated by later ancient biographers. According to Laërtius, Pericles spoke in defense of Anaxagoras at his trial, c.  450 . Even so, Anaxagoras

1288-544: The Platonic text, and the historical reality of the encounter, in favor of the traditional date of Apollodorus. He follows the traditional datum of the founding of Elea in 545 BC, pointing to it not only as terminus post quem , but as a possible date of Parmenides's birth, from which he concludes that his parents were part of the founding contingent of the city and that he was a contemporary of Heraclitus . The evidence suggests that Parmenides could not have written much after

1344-399: The Sun as a fiery mass larger than the Peloponnese , and also attempted to explain rainbows and meteors . He also speculated that the sun might be just another star. Anaxagoras was born in the town of Clazomenae in the early 5th century BCE, where he may have been born into an aristocratic family. He arrived at Athens, either shortly after the Persian war (in which he may have fought on

1400-462: The Way of " Aletheia " or truth, describes how all reality is one, change is impossible, and existence is timeless and uniform. The second view, the way of " Doxa ", or opinion, describes the world of appearances, in which one's sensory faculties lead to conceptions which are false and deceitful. Parmenides has been considered the founder of ontology and has, through his influence on Plato , influenced

1456-441: The age of 65, when Socrates was a young man, c.  450 BC , which, if true, suggests a year of birth of c.  515 BC . He is thought to have been in his prime (or " floruit ") around 475 BC. The single known work by Parmenides is a poem whose original title is unknown but which is often referred to as On Nature . Only fragments of it survive. In his poem, Parmenides prescribes two views of reality . The first,

1512-522: The annual celebration known as the Anaxagoreia was established. Responding to the claims of Parmenides on the impossibility of change, Anaxagoras described the world as a mixture of primary imperishable ingredients, where material variation was never caused by an absolute presence of a particular ingredient, but rather by its relative preponderance over the other ingredients; in his words, "each one is... most manifestly those things of which there are

1568-401: The celestial bodies and the fall of meteorites led him to form new theories of the universal order, and to the prediction of the impact of meteorites. According to Pliny, he was credited with predicting the fall of the meteorite in 467 . He was the first to give a correct explanation of eclipses, and was both famous and notorious for his scientific theories, including the claims that the Sun is

1624-737: The death of Heraclitus. Beyond the speculations and inaccuracies about his date of birth, some specialists have turned their attention to certain passages of his work to specify the relationship of Parmenides with other thinkers. It was thought to find in his poem certain controversial allusions to the doctrine of Anaximenes and the Pythagoreans (fragment B 8, verse 24, and frag. B 4), and also against Heraclitus (frag .B 6, vv.8–9), while Empedocles and Anaxagoras frequently refer to Parmenides. The reference to Heraclitus has been debated. Bernays's thesis that Parmenides attacks Heraclitus, to which Diels, Kranz, Gomperz, Burnet and others adhered,

1680-527: The first part of this have survived, through preservation in the work of Simplicius of Cilicia in the 6th century AD. Anaxagoras's book was reportedly available for a drachma in the Athenian marketplace . It was certainly known to Sophocles , Euripides , and Aristophanes , based on the contents of their surviving plays, and possibly to Aeschylus as well, based on the testimony of Seneca . However, although Anaxagoras almost certainly lived in Athens during

1736-472: The journey towards either illumination or darkness, but there is little scholarly consensus about any interpretation, and the surviving evidence from the poem itself, as well as any other literary use of allegory from the same time period, may be too sparse to ever determine any of the intended symbolism with certainty. In the Way of Truth , an estimated 90% of which has survived, Parmenides distinguishes between

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1792-524: The later chapters of his book entitled Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks . He speaks fondly of Anaxagoras's nous , and defends the idea by claiming philosophers had "failed to recognize the meaning of Anaxagoras's [nous] ..." and believed that it was "perfectly sufficient for his insight to have found a motion which is capable of creating visible order in a thoroughly mixed chaos, by means of

1848-507: The lifetime of Socrates (born 470 BCE), there is no evidence that they ever met. In the Phaedo , Plato portrays Socrates saying of Anaxagoras as a young man: 'I eagerly acquired his books and read them as quickly as I could'. However, Socrates goes on to describe his later disillusionment with his philosophy. Anaxagoras is also mentioned by Socrates during his trial in Plato 's Apology . He

1904-415: The maturity of Xenophanes and thus the birth of his supposed disciple, Parmenides. Knowing this, Burnet and later classicists like Cornford , Raven , Guthrie , and Schofield preferred to base the calculations on the Platonic dialogue. According to the latter, the fact that Plato adds so much detail regarding ages in his text is a sign that he writes with chronological precision. Plato says that Socrates

1960-570: The meeting between Socrates and Parmenides is mentioned in the dialogues Theaetetus (183e) and Sophist (217c) only indicates that it is referring to the same fictional event, and this is possible because both the Theaetetus and the Sophist are considered after the Parmenides . In Soph. 217c the dialectic procedure of Socrates is attributed to Parmenides, which would confirm that this

2016-484: The modern Karakova Dere and Büyük Dere ("Big Creek", now called Münipbey Deresi). Körpe and Yavuz concurred with both Bommelaer and Strauss that the latter stream is the more likely candidate and additionally identified the probable site of the associated settlement as a rise on the left bank of the Münipbey Deresi known as Kalanuro Tepesi, based on geographical features and archaeological remnants. Aegospotami

2072-472: The moment of maturity, placing his birth 40 years earlier (544 BC – 540 BC). The other is Plato , in his dialogue Parmenides . There Plato composes a situation in which Parmenides, 65, and Zeno , 40, travel to Athens to attend the Panathenaic Games . On that occasion they meet Socrates , who was still very young according to the Platonic text. The inaccuracy of the dating from Apollodorus

2128-485: The most in it". He introduced the concept of nous ( cosmic mind) as an ordering force, which moved and separated the original mixture, which was homogeneous or nearly so. Anaxagoras brought philosophy and the spirit of scientific inquiry from Ionia to Athens. According to Anaxagoras, all things have existed in some way from the beginning, but originally they existed in infinitesimally small fragments of themselves, endless in number and inextricably combined throughout

2184-427: The only certainty we can extract from the discovery is that of the social importance of Parmenides in the life of his city, already indicated by the testimonies that indicate his activity as a legislator. Plato , in his dialogue Parmenides , relates that, accompanied by his disciple Zeno of Elea , Parmenides visited Athens when he was approximately sixty-five years old and that, on that occasion, Socrates , then

2240-521: The original intermixture of things is never wholly overcome. Each thing contains parts of other things or heterogeneous elements, and is what it is only on account of the preponderance of certain homogeneous parts which constitute its character. Out of this process arise the things we see in this world. Plutarch says "Anaxagoras is said to have predicted that if the heavenly bodies should be loosened by some slip or shake, one of them might be torn away, and might plunge and fall to earth." His observations of

2296-484: The poem, Way of Opinion , Parmenides propounds a theory of the world of seeming and its development, pointing out, however, that, in accordance with the principles already laid down, these cosmological speculations do not pretend to anything more than mere appearance. The structure of the cosmos is a fundamental binary principle that governs the manifestations of all the particulars: "the Aether fire of flame" (B 8.56), which

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2352-537: The poet's journey includes a variety of allegorical symbols, such as a speeding chariot with glowing axles, horses, the House of Night, Gates of the paths of Night and Day, and maidens who are "the daughters of the Sun" who escort the poet from the ordinary daytime world to a strange destination, outside our human paths. The allegorical themes in the poem have attracted a variety of different interpretations, including comparisons to Homer and Hesiod , and attempts to relate

2408-428: The purpose of the work, a former section known as "The Way of Truth" ( aletheia , ἀλήθεια), and a latter section known as "The Way of Appearance/Opinion" ( doxa , δόξα). Despite the poem's fragmentary nature, the general plan of both the proem and the first part, "The Way of Truth" have been ascertained by modern scholars, thanks to large excerpts made by Sextus Empiricus and Simplicius of Cilicia . Unfortunately,

2464-402: The same fictitious dialogue and not to a historical fact. Parmenides's sole work, which has only survived in fragments, is a poem in dactylic hexameter , later titled On Nature . Approximately 160 verses remain today from an original total that was probably near 800. The poem was originally divided into three parts: an introductory proem that contains an allegorical narrative which explains

2520-427: The second part, "The Way of Opinion", which is supposed to have been much longer than the first, only survives in small fragments and prose paraphrases. The introductory proem describes the narrator's journey to receive a revelation from an unnamed goddess on the nature of reality. The remainder of the work is then presented as the spoken revelation of the goddess without any accompanying narrative. The narrative of

2576-420: The time of Cambyses II , the foundation of Elea can be placed between 530 BC and 522 BC So Parmenides could not have been born before 530 BC or after 520 BC, given that it predates Empedocles . This last dating procedure is not infallible either, because it has been questioned that the fact that links the passages of Herodotus and Thucydides is the same. Nestor Luis Cordero also rejects the chronology based on

2632-439: The unity of nature and its variety, insisting in the Way of Truth upon the reality of its unity, which is therefore the object of knowledge, and upon the unreality of its variety, which is therefore the object, not of knowledge, but of opinion. This contrasts with the argument in the section called "the way of opinion", which discusses that which is illusory. In the significantly longer, but far worse preserved latter section of

2688-440: The universe. All things existed in this mass but in a confused and indistinguishable form. There was an infinite number of homogeneous parts ( ὁμοιομερῆ ) as well as heterogeneous ones. The work of arrangement, the segregation of like from unlike, and the summation of the whole into totals of the same name, was the work of Mind or Reason ( νοῦς ). Mind is no less unlimited than the chaotic mass, but it stood pure and independent,

2744-589: The whole history of Western philosophy . He is also considered to be the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy , which also included Zeno of Elea and Melissus of Samos . Zeno's paradoxes of motion were developed to defend Parmenides's views. In contemporary philosophy, Parmenides's work has remained relevant in debates about the philosophy of time . Parmenides was born in Elea (called Velia in Roman times),

2800-468: Was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia (Southern Italy ). Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea , from a wealthy and illustrious family. His dates are uncertain; according to doxographer Diogenes Laërtius , he flourished just before 500 BC, which would put his year of birth near 540 BC, but in the dialogue Parmenides Plato has him visiting Athens at

2856-469: Was a disciple of Anaximander . Everything related to the chronology of Parmenides—the dates of his birth and death, and the period of his philosophical activity—is uncertain. All conjectures regarding Parmenides's date of birth are based on two ancient sources. One comes from Apollodorus and is transmitted to us by Diogenes Laertius: this source marks the Olympiad 69th (between 504 BC and 500 BC) as

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2912-451: Was about sixty-five years old, his birth occurred around 515 BC. However, neither Raven nor Schofield, who follows the former, finds a dating based on a late Platonic dialogue entirely satisfactory. Other scholars directly prefer not to use the Platonic testimony and propose other dates. According to a scholar of the Platonic dialogues , R. Hirzel, Conrado Eggers Lan indicates that the historical has no value for Plato. The fact that

2968-442: Was discussed by Reinhardt, whom Jaeger followed. Guthrie finds it surprising that Heraclitus would not have censured Parmenides if he had known him, as he did with Xenophanes and Pythagoras . His conclusion, however, does not arise from this consideration, but points out that, due to the importance of his thought, Parmenides splits the history of pre-Socratic philosophy in two; therefore his position with respect to other thinkers

3024-485: Was forced to retire from Athens to Lampsacus in Troad ( c.  434  – 433). He died there around the year 428. Citizens of Lampsacus erected an altar to Mind and Truth in his memory and observed the anniversary of his death for many years. They placed over his grave the following inscription: Here Anaxagoras, who in his quest of truth scaled heaven itself, is laid to rest. Additionally, in his honor,

3080-430: Was one of the first to assert that the Moon reflected sunlight and did not produce light by itself; a statement translated as “the sun induces the moon with brightness” was found in his writings. According to Plutarch in his work On exile , Anaxagoras is the first Greek to attempt the problem of squaring the circle , a problem he worked on while in prison. Anaxagoras wrote a book of philosophy, but only fragments of

3136-429: Was very young, and this is interpreted to mean that he was less than twenty years old. We know the year of Socrates' death (399 BC) and his age—he was about seventy years old–making the date of his birth 469 BC. The Panathenaic games were held every four years, and of those held during Socrates' youth (454, 450, 446), the most likely is that of 450 BC, when Socrates was nineteen years old. Thus, if at this meeting Parmenides

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