Abstract

AbstractThis paper reconsiders the debates around the interpretation of Parmenides’ Being, in order to draw out the preconceptions that lie behind such debates and to scrutinize the legitimacy of applying them to a text such as Parmenides’ poem. With a focus on the assumptions that have driven scholars to seek clarity within the notoriously ambiguous verse of the poem, I ask whether it is possible to develop an analysis of Parmenides’ Being that is sympathetic both to his clear interest in argument, logic, knowledge and truth and to his ambiguous expression and cultural and literary resonances.

Highlights

  • On many accounts, Parmenides is the first true philosopher of the Western tradition

  • This paper reconsiders the debates around the interpretation of Parmenides’ Being, in order to draw out the preconceptions that lie behind such debates and to scrutinize the legitimacy of applying them to a text such as Parmenides’ poem

  • My proposal is that the obscurities and ambiguities of Parmenides’ poem, even those we find in the arguments of the Alētheia, should not be too hastily dismissed as unfortunate and unintentional failures of clear expression

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Summary

Introduction

Parmenides is the first true philosopher of the Western tradition. So, for example, David Gallop tells us that Parmenides should be regarded as ‘the first extant author deserving to be called a philosopher in the present-day sense of the word’.1 Comparable statements of admiration and priority can be found throughout the English-language scholarship on Parmenides.[2]. Over the last seventy years or so, Parmenides’ teachings have proved rich pickings for those interested in early logic and the development of deductive argumentation as well as in ancient Greek thinking about necessity and ontology In admiring these aspects of Parmenides’ thought, modern scholars are part of a tradition that can be, and often is, traced back at least as far as Plato.[4] it is fair to suggest that the current dominance of the perception of Parmenides as ‘the father of logic’ is largely a product of the analytic approach to ancient philosophy that developed in the second half of the twentieth century.[5] It is significant that, in emphasizing Parmenides’ philosophical worth, early exponents of this view were explicitly rejecting the previous orthodoxy, which read Parmenides’ poem as presenting a critique of the cosmological theories of his predecessors.[6] interpretations seeking to emphasize Parmenides’ philosophical innovation have shown a recurrent tendency to want to understand the significance of his arguments as somehow insulated from the influences of purportedly less sophisticated physikoi. This chapter aims to encourage reflection both on how we decide what is philosophically significant, and on the interpretative choices we make as a result

The Priority of Argument
Obscurity in the Arguments
The Ambiguity of What Is
Conclusion
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