Oxford University Press, USA
Parmenides and Presocratic Philosophy
Parmenides and Presocratic Philosophy
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John Palmer develops and defends a modal interpretation of Parmenides, according to which he was the first philosopher to distinguish in a rigorous manner the fundamental modalities of necessary being, necessary non-being or impossibility, and non-necessary or contingent being. This book
accordingly reconsiders his place in the historical development of Presocratic philosophy in light of this new interpretation. Careful treatment of Parmenides' specification of the ways of inquiry that define his metaphysical and epistemological outlook paves the way for detailed analyses of his
arguments demonstrating the temporal and spatial attributes of what is and cannot not be. Since the existence of this necessary being does not preclude the existence of other entities that are but need not be, Parmenides' cosmology can straightforwardly be taken as his account of the origin and
operation of the world's mutable entities. Later chapters reassess the major Presocratics' relation to Parmenides in light of the modal interpretation, focusing particularly on Zeno, Melissus, Anaxagoras, and Empedocles. In the end, Parmenides' distinction among the principal modes of being, and his
arguments regarding what what must be must be like, simply in virtue of its mode of being, entitle him to be seen as the founder of metaphysics or ontology as a domain of inquiry distinct from natural philosophy and theology. An appendix presents a Greek text of the fragments of Parmenides' poem
with English translation and textual notes.
Author: John Palmer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 02/07/2013
Pages: 442
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.42lbs
Size: 9.27h x 6.21w x 0.91d
ISBN: 9780199664696
accordingly reconsiders his place in the historical development of Presocratic philosophy in light of this new interpretation. Careful treatment of Parmenides' specification of the ways of inquiry that define his metaphysical and epistemological outlook paves the way for detailed analyses of his
arguments demonstrating the temporal and spatial attributes of what is and cannot not be. Since the existence of this necessary being does not preclude the existence of other entities that are but need not be, Parmenides' cosmology can straightforwardly be taken as his account of the origin and
operation of the world's mutable entities. Later chapters reassess the major Presocratics' relation to Parmenides in light of the modal interpretation, focusing particularly on Zeno, Melissus, Anaxagoras, and Empedocles. In the end, Parmenides' distinction among the principal modes of being, and his
arguments regarding what what must be must be like, simply in virtue of its mode of being, entitle him to be seen as the founder of metaphysics or ontology as a domain of inquiry distinct from natural philosophy and theology. An appendix presents a Greek text of the fragments of Parmenides' poem
with English translation and textual notes.
Author: John Palmer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 02/07/2013
Pages: 442
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.42lbs
Size: 9.27h x 6.21w x 0.91d
ISBN: 9780199664696
About the Author
John Palmer is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Florida. He is the author of Plato's Reception of Parmenides (OUP, 1999) and of numerous articles on early Greek philosophy. He received his doctorate from Princeton University and was subsequently a research fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge. He has also been the receipient of an ACLS Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellowship and is a fellow of the National Humanities Center.
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