Parmenides

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Plato, 428? BCE-348? BCE

Contributor:

Jowett, Benjamin, 1817-1893

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource : multiple file formats

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg,

Summary:

"Parmenides" by Plato is a philosophical dialogue likely written during the late 4th century BC. This work presents a complex examination of metaphysical concepts, particularly focusing on the nature of being and the dichotomy between the One and the Many. The central figures in the dialogue include Socrates, the youthful philosopher, and Parmenides, the venerable thinker whose ideas spark a rigorous dialectical analysis. The opening of "Parmenides" introduces a scene in which Cephalus recounts the events leading to a philosophical discussion that happened in Athens involving Socrates, Parmenides, and Zeno. Cephalus inquires about his half-brother Antiphon and relays how Parmenides and Zeno came to Athens during the Panathenaic festival. Antiphon, initially reluctant, agrees to recite a dialogue he remembers about the discussions among Socrates, Zeno, and Parmenides on crucial philosophical questions regarding unity, plurality, and the relationship between existence and ideas. As the dialogue unfolds, Socrates expertly engages with Zeno's arguments about being and non-being, raising profound queries about the nature of ideas and how they relate to the physical world, setting the stage for further explorations of these philosophical issues. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Credits:

Produced by Sue Asscher, and David Widger

Notes:

Reading ease score: 64.4 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read.

Socrates

Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parmenides_(dialogue)

Release date is 1999-03-01