Exact date of birth unknown. Sometime early 5th Century bce

Exact date of birth unknown. Sometime early 5th Century BCE

• Exact date of birth unknown. Sometime early 5th Century BCE

• Born in Elea, Greek Colony in Italy

Pupil of Xenophanes

• Pupil of Xenophanes

• Believed in one God, as opposed to two or more

• Also didn’t believe in Gods in the form of humans

• Argued for example that if cows could visualize Gods, they would visualize Gods in the image of a cow
• Influenced Parmenides view on:
• Opinion vs. Knowledge
• Existence

Founded school of Elea

• Founded school of Elea

• Famous students of the school
• Zeno
• Tried to prove there are inconsistencies with the world of appearance and reality
• Melissus

Wrote the poem “On Nature”

• Wrote the poem “On Nature”

• Only 160 of 800 verses survived (stanford.edu)
• Describes a journey to the home of a goddess, where she reveals the Way of Belief and the Way of Truth
• Way of Belief is false and the view of the majority
• Way of Truth is the true way to perceive Being

Philosophy based on logic through reasoning and not based on the senses

• Philosophy based on logic through reasoning and not based on the senses

• Senses are deceitful and not trustworthy
• Two worlds:
• World of appearance that is an illusion cast by the senses
• World of Reality that can be reached thru intellect

Change is impossible

• Change is impossible

• Everything that exists has always existed and will exist for the rest of time
• There are the ‘Being’ and ‘Not Being’
• Nothing is produced
• Nothing creates nothing.
• A Being can not turn into a Not Being
• Opinions are formed because of confusion between Being and Not Being

Gives understanding of the opinions of Men

• Gives understanding of the opinions of Men

• Not necessarily wrong, but it is only based on what the senses perceive which is what the majority of people understand

• Opinions are formed because of confusion between Being and Not Being

Parmenides

• Parmenides

• Believes that those who trust their senses are fools, and that change is illusory for nothing ever changes

• Humans should judge reality by reason and not their senses

Parmenides influenced Plato

• Parmenides influenced Plato

• Plato met Zeno and Parmenides on a visit to Athens
• Plato created a dialogue named Parmenides after him

Italy Map. Web. 11 Feb 2011. .

• Italy Map. Web. 11 Feb 2011. .

• PBS Probes The Brain. Web. 11 Feb 2011. .

• Xenophanes. Web. 11 Feb 2011. .

• lendering, jona. "Parmenides." Livious.org. Livious.org, 2005. Web. 11 Feb 2011. .

• "Parmenides." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web. .

• Palmer, John, "Parmenides", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = .