Eleatics
The Eleatics were a group of
The primary philosophers who are associated with the Eleatic doctrines are
History
Patricia Curd states that the chronology of pre-Socratic philosophers is one of the most contentious issues of pre-Socratic philosophy.
There is generally a consensus that Parmenides lived in the early 5th century BC,[1] based on the date and setting of the fictionalized events in Plato's Parmenides where Parmenides and Zeno travel to Athens and have a debate with a young Socrates.[1] This would place Parmenides well after other philosophers such as Xenophanes, Heraclitus, and Pythagoras.[1] Although many philosophers throughout history have interpreted the doctrines of the Eleatics as responses to Xenophanes, Heraclitus, or Pythagoras, there is no broad agreement or direct evidence of any influence or direct response, although many theories have been put forth interpreting the Eleatics in terms of these philosophers.[1] For philosophers after Parmenides however, the relative chronology and potential directions of influence become even more difficult to determine.[1]
For Zeno, it is not clear whether or not Anaxagoras or Empedocles influenced or were influenced by any of his ideas, although they appear to have lived at approximately the same time.[1] For Melissus, who lived one generation later, the problem of influence is further complicated by additional potential influences of Leucippus, Democritus, and Diogenes of Apollonia.[1] For example, some interpreters see Melissus as responding to Leucippus' atomism, which is then responded to by Democritus - but others see Melissus responding to Democritus.[1]
Philosophy
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The Eleatics rejected the epistemological validity of sense experience, and instead took logical standards of clarity and necessity to be the criteria of truth. Of the members, Parmenides and Melissus built arguments starting from sound premises.[citation needed] Zeno, on the other hand, primarily employed the reductio ad absurdum, attempting to destroy the arguments of others by showing that their premises led to contradictions (Zeno's paradoxes).
The main doctrines of the Eleatics were evolved in opposition to the theories of the early
Legacy
- Plato acknowledged them in the Parmenides, the Sophist and the Statesman.
Notes
References
- ISBN 978-0-470-52548-7.
- Curd, Patricia (2004). The legacy of Parmenides : Eleatic monism and later presocratic thought. Las Vegas, Nev.: Parmenides Publishing. ISBN 1-930972-15-6.
- Andre Laks; Glenn W. Most, eds. (2016). "Western Greek Thinkers, Part 2". ISBN 978-0-674-99706-6.
- Palmer, John Anderson (2009). Parmenides and Presocratic philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199567904.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Eleatic School". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 168–169. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. VIII (9th ed.). 1878. p. 1. .
- Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). "Parmenides". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). "Zeno of Elea". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). "Zeno's Paradoxes". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). "Xenophanes". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). "Monism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.