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Abstract
The so called Eternity Formula is found both in Homer and Hesiod. The speeches of a seer and of the muses are said to inform the things “that are, will be and were”. Versions of this formula were also used by presocratic philosophers to describe the temporal aspect of central concepts within their cosmologies. Generally, they use it to convey the eternity of an entity by the affirmation of its existence throughout past, present and future. That is the case of fire in Heraclitus’ linear and reciprocal conception of time, of hate and love in the cyclical time of Empedocles, of the intelligence living in an eternal now in Anaxagoras’ cosmos, and of the eternal being in Melissus and Parmenides. Nonetheless, each use of the formula has its own peculiarities. The aim of this article is to make a comparative analysis of them, both within the thought of each philosopher as in face of one another. At the end I will propose a general formula of eternity in the presocratic philosophy that points towards an absolute conception of time. Furthermore, I hope to show that such an absolute treatment of time ends up by denying it implicitly or explicitly in a particular type of eternal present.
Highlights
The so called Eternity Formula is found both in Homer and Hesiod
5) O objeto mais comum da eternidade, quando se trata do elemento da cosmologia proposta, é o ‘ser’
The Journal of Philosophy, New York, vol 78, n
Summary
A ocorrência reminiscente mais antiga de uma versão da fórmula da eternidade se encontra nos poemas homéricos. No caso do melhor dos adivinhos e, segundo, no caso das musas, o que diferencia os discursos por eles produzidos é o fato de abarcarem presente, futuro e passado, ou melhor, utilizarem a fórmula: ‘o que é, o que será, e o que foi’. No contexto da Ilíada, por exemplo, todos os humanos ali presentes sabem que há uma peste no acampamento aqueu; no entanto, apenas Calcas está ciente do que fazer para resolvê-la no futuro. Talvez pela fixidez da métrica, Hesíodo não altera nem mesmo a ordem ‘humana’ de apresentação dos tempos ao usar a fórmula da eternidade. No caso dos pré-socráticos, cada passo no caminho de um tratamento mais absoluto da temporalidade será expresso por alterações formais importantes
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