Parmenides

Parmenides (also Parmenides of Elea) (Greek: Παρμενίδης ο Ἐλεάτης, early 5th century BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, Italy and was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy. His only known work is a poem, but only bits and pieces have survived. In it, he describes two views of reality. These thoughts strongly influenced Plato, and later, the whole of western philosophy. His philosophy was based on materialistic monism. Materialistic monism is the belief that everything in the universe is made of a single substance. Parmenides' biggest argument was that change does not exist. Parmenides' explanation is that we think we see change, but our senses are not reliable, and they create the illusion of change.

Greek: Παρμενίδης
Parmenides
Era	Pre-Socratic philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
School	Eleatic school
Main interests	Metaphysics
Notable ideas	Being is, Eternal return, Determinism, Ultimate reality, Monotheism
Influences Amenias, Pythagoras, Xenophanes of Colophon
Influenced Zeno of Elea, Melissus of Samos, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza, Nietzsche, Heidegger

Parmenides Media

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  Detail of the pedestal found in Velia. Greek inscriptions were made only in capital letters, and without spaces. Read as follows: ΠΑ[ ]ΜΕΝΕΙΔΗΣ ΠΥΡΗΤΟΣ* ΟΥΛΙΑΔΗΣ ΦΥΣΙΚΟΣ

Other websites

• Parmenides' of Elea Way of Truth with an annotated bibliography