Parmenides 'Xenophanes' The Way Of Truth

Parmenides, like many pre-Socratic philosophers, was among the first to start questioning the world around him in a philosophical context. A student of Xenophanes’, Parmenides argued that change did not occur in the natural world and that the world is as it is and will remain so for eternity. He argued, quite fervently, that our personal observations of the natural world do not correlate with reality. While many see this as a fallacy in the modern era, the principle behind his ideas (that the world we see is different from the world that is) has been validated by scientific discoveries such as elements within the periodic table. Despite this being a fallacy by modern standards, Western Philosophy owes a great debt to Parmenides since he was …show more content…
Initially consisting of three thousand lines, only one-hundred and sixty have been recovered (Gallop). Despite this, it’s known that his works consisted of three different sections: the proem, “The Way of Appearance/Opinion”, and “The Way of Truth”. While the proem is simply an intro, “The Way of Truth” delves into what is real and what isn’t while directly contrasting with “The Way of Appearance/Opinion” which instead confers that which is imagined. Parmenides noted that there are two types of analysis – on one side, it is and on the other side it is not. What is not, he argued, is not feasible; therefore, there is no such thing as something that cannot be: “for never shall this prevail, that things that are not are” (Popper). In “The Way of Opinion”, immediately after Parmenides’ exposition on the arche, the part of reality that is necessary and understood through logos, he goes on to discuss the structure of the coming cosmos: “The mortals lay down and decided well to name two forms (i.e. the flaming light and obscure darkness of night), out of which it is necessary not to make one, and in this they are led astray”