Dragons Do Not Exist

Presocratic philosophers, from Thales to Heraclitus, studied philosophy based upon the general Milesian pattern for approximately one-hundred years. However, Parmenides enlightened the philosophical world with a new question rather than continuing to answer the million-dollar question, “What is everything made of.” Through his radical and counterintuitive reasoning Parmenides concluded that many of the philosophical thinkers before him were unintelligible, and wasted their time asking the wrong question. According to Parmenides the question that needed to be asked was, “What must reality be like?” Parmenides was born in 515 B.C. in Elea of southern Italy. His views were somewhat aligned with those of Pythagoras, possibly due to similar location. …show more content…
Parmenides states that we do not possess the capability to create any assumptions or statements of non-being. Presume two individuals were deeply conversing about dragons. However, in order to discuss the being of dragons they would have to exist. Dragons are non-being, which means it is utterly impossible to speak of them. In essence, we cannot make statement about anything that does not exist, because objects of non-being cannot be spoken in regards to. In addition to objectifying the concept of not being, Parmenides also sought to rule out the notion of being and non-being. This particular idea is flawed due to the role the senses have upon our thinking. Assertions such as “the marker is red,” and “the grass is green” are statements that people generally generate based upon the senses. To make such claims regarding characteristics and changes in regards to any object, is to unconditionally talk about …show more content…
Rational inquiry requires philosophical thinkers to begin with “it is” and presume the nature of reality from within it. As previously stated, Parmenides concludes that “what is” is changeless, eternal, perfect, and one. In asserting that objects that exist in the ‘real’ world are ‘perfect’ they must have direct limits and be spherical. Parmenides effectively demonstrated the relationship by establishing a connection between a circle and his radical view of the One. A circle is changeless, homogenous, whole, continuous, and of course spherical. Although we may believe we have seen or created the perfect circle, we have not. The perfect circle only exists in the Real world, a world that is based upon rationalization rather than the perception of the senses. Fundamentally, Parmenides is declaring that reality in its entirety is