Cenon de elea full#

There is nothing outside of what is, capable of containing it for what could be outside of it? Only nothingness, and the existence of nothingness is inconceivable.

Cenon de elea full#

For, as Parmenides has already explained, 'all is full of what is' (6.11). But clearly there is no place into which being could move. In order for a thing to move, it must have a place to move to.

We can see immediately why it would have to be motionless. Parmenides’ use of the term 'destiny' above should not be understood as 'fate', as something dictated by some power or previous event, but simply 'how things are' or 'how things work', the natural operation of reality-as-reality. Therefore, those things which mortals have established, believing them to be true, will be mere names: 'coming into being and passing away', 'being and not-being', 'change of place and alteration of bright color'. Humans suffer and worry over change and death because they have allowed themselves to become trapped by sense perception in the Way of Opinion which can never lead one to an apprehension of true reality because it denies the fundamental nature of reality.įor there is not, nor will there be, anything other than what is since indeed Destiny has fettered it to remain whole and immovable.

This is logically impossible because nothing can come from nothing, and that which exists cannot return to a state it never came from in the first place. The Way of Opinion, to Parmenides, was impossible and unthinkable because it claimed that 'what is' not only came from 'what is not' but that 'what is' took many forms, was subject to change, and could finally 'not be'. The other path of inquiry, the path of opinion, which claims that something arises from not-being, is not only impossible, it is unthinkable. Being must be one seamless, unchanging whole. If any of these alterations in being were possible, being would no longer be what 'is' and would become what 'is not' – but, by definition, there is no 'is not' from which being could arise or into which being could change. This is the path of truth that leads us to see that being is one and cannot be created, destroyed, or changed. Baird explains:Īccording to Parmenides, there are two ways of inquiry. Even when one’s conclusions contradicted empirical observation, they should still be recognized as true because sense perception could only lead one to form opinions about the world and prevented one from seeing reality as it truly is. To Parmenides, reality could not be understood by relying upon sense perceptions one had to depend on reason and logic. The poem was divided into three sections: the Prologue, the Way of Truth, and the Way of Opinion, each one differentiating what Parmenides called “the way which is” from “the way which is not” or the path toward truth and the way of opinion and illusion. Parmenides’ first-hand account of his claims is also still extant, however, in the form of fragments of a long poem written by him, and addressed to Zeno, from c. 428/427 - 348/347 BCE) in his dialogue of the Parmenides which also presents Zeno’s defense of his master. Parmenides’ philosophy is preserved by later philosophers, most notably Plato (l. To Parmenides, reality could not be understood by relying upon sense perceptions one had to depend on reason & logic.