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Ancient Greek Philosophy Continued : Heraclitus and Parmenides

Heraclitus :
The world continues to be in a state of flux ,
Where strife (Nekos) and love (Philia) , 
Are the dividing and uniting forces in control ,
To ensure the balance and unity of the whole !
Harmony is the union of opposites ; 
Just as the high and low musical notes combine ,
To create music and melody in our life !
The principle of the universe is becoming and
change ,
And with his dynamic metaphysics Heraclitus 
tried to delve , 
The ultimate reality behind all things as he had 
felt !
Next we move on to Parmenides and his 
philosophy of ‘being’ ;
Directly opposed to Heraclitus’ notion of 
change and ‘becoming’ !

PARMENIDES (515 BC – 450 BC) :
Born in Elea a city south of present-day
Napels ,
At the age of 65 years visited Athens ,
And was interviewed by the youthful Socretes , -
as Plato says !
He was the founder of the Elactic School ;
Declared all changes to be mere illusory , -
and not to be fooled !
In reality it was only changelessness , - 
only a state of ‘being’ ;
Far removed from Heraclitus’ change and flux ,
and ‘becoming’ !
Since for ‘being’ to change and ‘become’ , it 
must have come , -
From a being , or non-being , or nothing ! 
To come from a ‘non-being’ or ‘nothing’ was 
impossible !
But if from a ‘being’ , then it has come from 
itself ;
And has always been an ‘identical being’, -
Parmenides strongly felt !
It was evident then , that from being only being
can come ,
Hence there was only one eternal , indivisible 
being , which was continuous !
Moreover , he declared ‘being’ and ‘thought’ were 
one !
For what cannot be thought cannot be ,
And what cannot be , that is ‘non-being’, -
cannot be thought !
‘Thought’ and ‘being’ for him were identical !
All change for Permanides being inconceivable , -
The world of sense he declared was an illusion !
Sense perception reveals a world of plurality
and change ;
An illusory world of opinion and appearance !
Later , Bertrand Russell in his ‘History of Western
Philosophy’, 
Suggested Parmanides was a victim of linguistic 
fallacy !
Yet he gives him credit for the ‘invention of
Metaphysics based on logic!’

Both Melissus and Zeno as pupils of Permanides ,
Continued his traditions in his Electic School of
Philosophy !
Zeno’s through his four paradoxes on movement 
tried to demonstrate ,
The indivisibility and unchanging reality without
change !
Zeno with his words of magic, is reputed to have
laid the foundation of Logic !

Copyright © Raj Nandy | Year Posted 2010

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