Greek Philosophers Biographies - Eleatic school Part 1
2015-12-20 : the website is under construction. THE PROVERBS ARE O.K., but It will take me a few hours to re-insert the images of the greek philosophers, which for some reason were lost, after my last revision, which i have done a few days ago. so until i remove the sign 'website - under - construction' ... you can study the proverbs with safety !. Please stay on Alert !.
Notes: 1. Diogenes of Sinope ... and ... Sinope ... is the same Greek Philosopher
2. Heraclitus of Ephesus ,,, and ... Ephesus is the same Greek Philosopher
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Greek Philosophers Biographies - Eleatic school Part 1 in English
The Greek philosophers were among the most influential people in history because they invented both philosophy and science. By asking questions about themselves and the world around them, these philosophers helped create modern civilization.
Interestingly enough, the Greek philosophers thought of themselves as scientists rather than thinkers. They called themselves seekers and lovers of wisdom and often studied a wide variety of subjects, including history, physics, law, sociology, politics, mathematics, and biology. The famous philosophers were also teachers, educating wealthy children and operating schools as well as thinkers.
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Author Birth - Death
ELEATIC - Parmenides of Elea
02 ELEATIC - Zeno of Elea (c. 490-430 BCE)
ELEATIC - Melissus of Samos
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ELEATIC - Parmenides of Elea
Ελεατική Σχολή - Παρμενίδης απο την Ελέα ( ο Ελεάτης )
Parmenides. Detail from The School of Athens by Raphael.
Life and Work
Parmenides (b. c. 515 BC) flourished in the Greek colony of Elea in southern Italy. He is the founder of the Eleatic School which includes important philosophers such as Zeno and Melissus. He composed a book On Nature written in Homeric hexameter. His poem was divided in three sections: (1) Prologue; (2) The Way of Truth; (3) The Way of Human Opinion.
The Nature of Being
Whereas the Ionian hylozoists searched for the material originative source of cosmos, Parmenides posed a different kind of question: what is the nature of Being? The true ‘signs’ or predicates of Being (‘what there is’) are stated at the eighth survived fragment of his poem. Being is:
•ungenerated
•indestructible
•unique
•unmoved
•one and complete
•unchanged
•timeless
•continuous
Being and Non-Being
Parmenides’ arguments for these predicates are the following:
1.non-being must be rejected, for there is no temporality nor generation or destruction for Being;
2.Being is undivided, outside any internal differentiation or contradiction;
3.Being is unchangeable, immobile and complete, recognised only by thinking;
4.Being is equal to itself from every direction, outside any spatial application, equally balanced and uniformly complete at every side like the bulk of a well-rounded sphere.
So the only reasonable conclusion that remains for Being is an unqualified is.
Thinking and Being
The next question that arises in Parmenides’ thought is how Being can be recognized and understood. Since it is impossible to recognise what is not and what can be thought needs necessarily to be then it follows that everything which can be thought presupposes necessarily that something has firstly to be in order to be recognised. That means that only essential being can be apprehended by reason and thinking and not non-being. Parmenides concludes that the same thing is for thinking and for being. Hence since what can be thought is the same as the object of the thought and there is nothing else apart from what there is, then the conclusion which arises is that it is impossible to find thinking without being.
Opinion and Cosmology
Parmenides’ arguments for Being are exposed in the second part of him poem about the Way of Truth. In the third part of his poem on the Way of Opinion (doxa) he criticizes humans for being mislead by their senses. Humans erroneously regard cosmos as not that of ‘one Being’ but that of ‘many beings’, opposition and plurality. Parmenides’ position is clearly directed against the Ionian thinkers and particularly the ever-flowing Becoming of Heraclitus. For Parmenides, Heraclitean Becoming must be rejected and replaced by an unqualified Being. In his cosmology the only acceptable factors that constitute every single entity is ‘fire’ and ‘night’. His position on this distinction remains not clear in the survived fragments.
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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parmenides
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02 ELEATIC - Zeno of Elea (c. 490-430 BCE)
Ελεατική Σχολή - Ζήνων απο την Ελέα ( ο Ελεάτης )
Zeno shows the Doors to Truth and Falsity (Veritas et Falsitas). Fresco in the Library of El Escorial, Madrid.
In a race, the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead.
Little is known of Zeno's life because the only information we have about him comes from other famous Greek philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle. Aristotle regarded Zeno as the inventor of the dialectic or dialectical method of argument, which is considered one of the key methodologies in Western and Islamic philosophy. He was also regarded as the inventor of rhetoric and the father of debate. Zeno is famous for his paradoxes and for attempting to kill a tyrant named Demylus but failed. Demylus then might have murdered Zeno.
Zeno's paradoxes
Achilles and the tortoise
The dichotomy
The arrow
The moving rows
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Life and Work
Zeno (b. c. 490 BC) was a pupil of Parmenides. Plato in his dialogue Parmenides testifies their relationship. Aristotle names Zeno as the inventor of dialectic. He wrote a book in which he denies physical motion as well as the unreality of the pluralistic world. His paradoxes of motion had a great influence in the history and philosophy of mathematics.
Denial of Motion and Plurality
Zeno’s well known hypothesis is that of the denial of motion and plurality. His arguments aim to support Parmenides’ position on the oneness and unity of Being. For Zeno, if reality is successively divided into parts then you will divide it ad infinitum. Zeno’s arguments are presented in the form of paradoxes:
1.The Racetrack or Dichotomy Paradox
Suppose a runner has to travel form the start point A to the finish point B. But firstly he has to travel to the midpoint C and thence to B. But if D is the midpoint of AC, he must first travel to D and so on ad infinitum. So since in finite time it is impossible to accomplish an infinite number of movements then the runner is not able to finish his distance.
2.The Paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise
Achilles runs a race with a tortoise. Tortoise takes a lead. But while Achilles can run much faster than the tortoise, Achilles cannot touch it. How? When Achilles has reached the tortoise’s starting-point the tortoise is n/10 meters ahead. When Achilles has reached that point is n/100 ahead and so on ad infinitum.
3.The Stadium or Moving Blocks Paradox
Suppose three equal groups A, B, C of width l, with A and C moving past B in opposite direction at the same speed. While group A takes time t to traverse width B, it takes t/2 to traverse width C. This leads to the absurd paradox that half time equals its double.
4.The Arrow Paradox The Arrow Paradox
Suppose that time consists of moments or instances. A flying arrow at any instant of time occupies a space equal to itself. So at any instant of time, like in a photograph, the arrow would be at rest. Therefore if at any instant of time the arrow has no motion, temporal locomotion is impossible since time is composed of freezing instances in succession.
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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno_of_Elea
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ELEATIC - Melissus of Samos
Ελεατική Σχολή - Μέλισσος απο τη Σάμο ( ο Σάμιος )
Life and Work
Melissus of Samos (fl. 5th c. BC), after Parmenides and Zeno, is the third important thinker of the Eleatic movement. Except of a philosopher, he was a naval commander, famous for his victories especially against the Athenians in 441 BC. He wrote one philosophical book in prose from which only ten fragment survive, thanks to Simplicius
Theory of Being
Melissus was a follower of Parmenides’ thought but not in all its details. On the one hand, Melissus agrees with Parmenides’ main arguments on the indestructibility, immobility, indivisibility, oneness, completeness, changelessness and perfection of Being. On the other, he adopts a different viewpoint on the Parmenidean timelessness and finitude of Being. Melissus understood non-being in terms of spatial emptiness. Since non-being is impossible as an enclosing limit, then Being is limitless. Thus, while Parmenides’ Being is timeless in finitude, Melissus’ Being is everlasting in infinitum.
Senses and Body
Melissus refutes the reliability of sense-perception. Since our senses record constant change and change is impossible then the sensible observations and data are untrustworthy or even illusionary. More extremely Melissus denies the existence of body. Space is full, homogenous and without parts. Since there is no space to differentiate a distinct unity then the body cannot have a distinct character. So body cannot have a distinct existence within unlimited extension.
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for more information, please visit the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the following web page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissus_of_Samos
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