The Long ConversationA timeline of world philosophy

Philosopher

Parmenides

fl. 500–450 BCE

Also known as Parmenides of Elea

Author of a metaphysical poem arguing that what is cannot come to be or pass away, so that change and plurality are illusions of the senses.

Weathered marble bust of a man with curly hair and a full beard
Roman-period marble bust from Velia (ancient Elea), his home city.Photo: Sergio Spolti · CC BY-SA 4.0 · See the original

For it is the same thing that can be thought and that can be.

The Way of Truth, fragment 5 in Burnet’s numbering, translated by John Burnet

Parmenides set out his philosophy in a poem, of which substantial fragments survive, in which a goddess reveals to a young man the “way of truth”. Starting from the claim that what is not cannot be thought or spoken of, he argued that what is must be ungenerated, imperishable, whole and unchanging. The changing world we perceive belongs to the “way of opinion”.

How exactly to read the poem is still debated, but its arguments set the agenda for the philosophers who followed, who tried to explain change and plurality without falling foul of them. Plato named a dialogue after him. His dates are approximate: he was active in the early fifth century BCE.

Key ideas

The two ways of inquiry
In Parmenides’ poem, a goddess describes two paths. One is that “it is”, the path of conviction that attends on true reality. The other, that “it is not”, is “wholly without report”, because what is not can’t be known or even indicated.
What Is cannot change
“What Is is ungenerated and deathless, whole and uniform, and still and perfect.” It can’t come to be, because nothing can come from what is not.
The notions of mortals
The second part of the poem gives a full account of the cosmos, built on two principles, light and night. The goddess calls it “the notions of mortals, in which there is no genuine trustworthiness”.
A spur to later thinkers
Parmenides’ poem contains one of the earliest extended pieces of deductive argument. His challenge to earlier accounts of nature drove later Presocratics to develop more sophisticated physical theories.
Tradition
Western
Region
Elea, southern Italy

Influences

Parmenidesfl. 500–450 BCE

Influenced

Parmenidesfl. 500–450 BCE

Influenced

Where these links come from
  • Anaxagoras drew on Parmenides. Source: John Sisko and Patricia Curd, Anaxagoras, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Empedocles drew on and argued against Parmenides. Source: K. Scarlett Kingsley and Richard Parry, Empedocles, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Zeno of Elea drew on Parmenides. Source: John Palmer, Zeno of Elea, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Democritus drew on and argued against Parmenides. Source: Sylvia Berryman, Democritus, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Plato drew on Parmenides. Source: John Palmer, Parmenides, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Aristotle argued against Parmenides. Source: Christopher Shields, Aristotle, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Giordano Bruno drew on Parmenides. Source: Dilwyn Knox, Giordano Bruno, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Key works

  • On Nature

Sources

  1. John Palmer, Parmenides, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy