7
votes
Accepted
Is Heraclitus really a Mobilist?
Welcome, Delforge
Heraclitus and constant change - a vexed question
THE thought of Heraclitus of Ephesus is still often summarized
as " All things are flowing ", panta rhei; by which it is ...
6
votes
Accepted
I don't understand Parmenides's argument for why we can't think about what doesn't exist
Parmenides introduces an early version of the problem of negative existentials. In modern times, this has been construed as a problem about the relationship between reference and meaning and the ...
4
votes
Is not-being or is ist not?
What is "not-being" ? The absence of being or something else ?
See Parmenides' Poem :
Come now, I shall tell—and convey home the tale once you have heard—/
just which ways of inquiry alone ...
3
votes
Accepted
What is the original formulation of "all is one"
I couldn't find any article reporting the original formulation by Parmenides.
There are extant fragments of Parmenides' Poem; see e.g. WikiSource for the English (by John Burnet) translation:
"...
3
votes
What are the best arguments against the existence of change?
Parmenides's is certainly the best because it is based on solid principles like that of non-contradiction* and that something cannot come from nothing†.*It is impossible that the same thing be and not ...
3
votes
Accepted
Why does Parmenides impose a limit on his Being?
Leonardo Tarán discusses in detail lines 42-49 in Fragment VIII (pages 150-160). Here are some comments on those pages.
He claims "The ancients were already divided about the interpretation to be ...
3
votes
Accepted
What did Parmenides mean when he argued that there can be no change and no time?
It is curious that Parmenides's argument seems wrong today while back in the day someone as expert as Plato thought that it was obviously right. Indeed, one of the drives behind Plato's system was ...
3
votes
What is Quine's response to Parmenides's argument against change?
As a matter of fact, Quine completely adopted Russell's response to Parmenides's argument. This is explicit in Quine's "on what there is" (1948).
Curiously, Quine related that argument to ...
2
votes
Accepted
What is Quine's response to Parmenides's argument against change?
There is an extra premise for this argument to become an argument against change. Judging by how Parmenides and Zeno generally argued it might be something like this: since the present is fleeting and ...
2
votes
Accepted
Why did Parmenides rely on a fantastic fable to explain a sensitive-refusing theory?
Introduction
I think there are two points to consider:
1) The way philosophy worked these days, i.e. through poetry and
2) The problem of being "lost in translation".
I think most of us ...
2
votes
Accepted
Reductionism and Parmenides
There are chemical processes in the fruit, a bit crudely it's just atoms “moving around”
If you really want to keep a strict separation of Being and Non-Being, movement is also contradictory. For the ...
2
votes
Accepted
Can potentiality be used to dispel Parmenides's monism?
You're asking quite a few questions here, but the at the root it seems you're asking about the principle of individuation, i.e., What makes something an individual? What makes this dog different from ...
2
votes
Why does Parmenides impose a limit on his Being?
Parmenides' fragments are not easy to manage ...
It seems that the notion of "limit" is connected to the rejection of the infinite by many ancient Greek philosophers.
See Aristotle, Phys.III, 6, ...
2
votes
Accepted
Problems with Aristotle's argument against Parmenide's argument against the existence of change
See Aristotle's Natural Philosophy:
Nature, according to Aristotle, is an inner principle of change and being at rest.
Thus, change is the central concept of A's natural philosophy.
According to ...
2
votes
Did a lot of Greek philosophers believe lying is impossible?
The Liar Paradox has rather long story, starting around 600BC, and which mentions Eubulides, Chrysippus, Aristotle and other Greek thinkers: this is an indirect proof that for them lying would have ...
2
votes
Did a lot of Greek philosophers believe lying is impossible?
Does it follow, because and if falsehood of belief or utterance is impossible, therefore lying is impossible ? Lying involves an intent to mislead. Suppose, what is logically possible, that all liars ...
2
votes
Accepted
How to resolve this argument against possibility of change?
The argument seems to be a variation of Parmenides's argument against change, especially the premise "ex nihilo nihil fit" that being ("B" in your example) cannot come from nothing (to which "A" was ...
2
votes
What did Parmenides mean when he argued that there can be no change and no time?
I am not familiar with the research literature, but the given interpretation does not make sense to me. And this for two reasons.
First, the opinion of the so called "mortals" is an entirely marginal ...
2
votes
Easy way to think about Parmenides' argument against change?
All of this class of paradoxes (including Zeno's) hinge on the conceptual problem of the transition between discrete and continuous measurements, and that conceptual problem is rooted in a problematic ...
1
vote
Accepted
Who said 'You can't step into the same river once'?
It is attributed by Aristotle in the Metaphysics to Cratylus, a follower of Heraclitus. Reference: Aristotle, Metaphysics, 4.5 1010a10-15.
1
vote
When entities started being plural?
That things are many is the natural view. You look around and see a variety of things. Oak trees, light reflecting off the ocean onto low scudding clouds, young pale green blades of grass in a sultry ...
1
vote
What does the "the same thinking thing in men" fragment of Parmenides's poem mean?
Here is a less crude translation of this fragment, commonly referred to as B16:
"As each man has a union of the much wandering limbs of the body,
so is mind present to men.
For it is the same ...
1
vote
Did a lot of Greek philosophers believe lying is impossible?
Aristotle's and Socrates's opinions are not representative of many Greek philosophers but their opinions carry much weight. Aristotle promoted deceit and Socrates "allowed" it under certain conditions....
1
vote
Accepted
Explanation of Parmenides 'perfect' fragment?
The argument for the uniformity (or homogeneity, or self-sameness) doesn't follow from the boundedness of what is. Parmenides introduces both uniformity and the argument for uniformity in the passage ...
1
vote
Accepted
What are some good counter-arguments to the Third Man Argument
See at least :
Gregory Vlastos, The Third Man Argument in the Parmenides (1954)
P.T. Geach, The Third Man Again (1956)
S.Marc Cohen, The Logic of the Third Man (1971).
1
vote
Does Parmenides not face self-contradiction in his views on inquiry?
Comment
But Pamenides writed before the Greek "birth" of logic; see his Poem.
Thus, it is hard to analyze it in terms of "logical arguments".
In a sense, we can say that logic was "codified" by ...
1
vote
How does Parmenides' argument against the reality of change work?
Though I cannot give you a truly good answer, I may be able to add a bit of direction.
First, as you may know, Parmenides survives only through a very few ancient fragments, ancient references, and ...
1
vote
How does Parmenides' argument against the reality of change work?
Okay in pieces:
If a thing arrives at existence it comes either from being or from nothing.
I don't think this particular bit is too hard to follow. Anything that exists exists either because it ...
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