(page 61) - Chapter V
The Pre-Socratic Philosophers and the Teachings Ascribed to Them

Page 61

Here Parmenides simply repeats the Pythagorean doctrine of opposites:--

All things are composed of light or warmth, and of darkness or cold, and according to Aristotle, the former of these opposites corresponds to Being, while the latter to not-Being.

These opposites are equivalent to the male and female principles in the cosmos.

(iv) The Doctrine of the Anthropology of the Apparent:--The life of the soul, i.e., perception and reflexion, depends upon the blending of opposites, i.e., of the light-warm and the dark-cold principles, each of which stands in a physical relation to a corresponding principle in the cosmos.

(Zeller's History of Philosophy p. 60-62).

(Roger's Students' History of Philosophy p. 29-30).

(William Turner's History of Philosophy p. 47-48). (B. D. Alexander's History of Philosophy p. 22-24).

(c) ZENO

Supposed to be born 490 B.C. at Elea was a pupil of Parmenides, according to Plato. (Parmenides 127B).

His doctrines were intended to be a contradiction of (i) Motion and (ii) Plurality and space.

(i) Arguments against motion:--

(a) A body, in order to move from one point to another, must move through an infinite number of spaces since magnitude is divisible ad infinitum.

(b) A body which is in one place is at rest. An arrow in its flight, is at each successive moment in one place therefore it is at rest.

(c) The race between Achilles and the tortoise, is intended to contradict the concept of motion. In such a race Achilles can never overtake the tortoise, because he must first reach the point at which the tortoise started; but in the meantime the tortoise

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