Chapter 5 - Parmenides

(Originally written July 2, 2006 in Book 2)

The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
1974

Chapter 5 - Parmenides

Heraclitus believed that everything changes; Parmenides believed that nothing changes.

Parmenides was native of Elia (Southern Italy). He lived in the mid 5th century BC.

Parmenides developed a metaphysical argument used by most subsequent philosophers, up to and including Hegel.

He is called the inventor of logic, but really invented metaphysics based on logic.

He distrusted the senses, believed the only true being was "the One" an infinite and and indivisible being; did not believe in opposites (cold = not hot, dark = not light, etc.)

Two teachings:
1) The way of truth
2) The way of opinion

He believed that in order to use thought or language it had to correlate to something real. Whatever can be thought of or spoken of must necessarily exist at all times. Thus, there can be no change.

"Parmenides maintains that not only must George Washington have existed in the past, but in some sense he must still exist, since we can use his name significantly. This seems obviously untrue, but how are we to get around the argument?" (Russell, 49).

Parmenides assumed that words have a constant meaning, but words are never used the same way by two people. Parmenides argued that since we can now know what happened in the past, it can't really be past, but must somehow exist presently.

Parmenides' major problem was the ease of which he drew metaphysical conclusions from language. The remedy for this is to push logical and psychological study of language further than metaphysics normally do.

Parmenides most important philosophical contribution was not the denial of all change, but the concept of substance being indestructible.