The Parmenide

The book is it is easy to download. You should read Parmenides’ fragments carefully and more than once — especially the first 8 — before reading the rest of the chapter. The fragments raise lots of questions, such as the following: –what is Parmenides’ aim? What (in the light of what he says in fragments 2-19) does the goddess mean by what she tells him in fragment 1 lines 28-32? –what does Parmenides mean by “is” and “is not” and by “what-is” and “what-is-not”? Why does he think that what-is-not cannot be investigated and why is this important for him? –what is wrong with “mortal opinions”? Are they false? If not, where does the problem lie? –what do we learn about what-is? –unlike earlier presocratics, Parmenides gives arguments for his views. Identify the arguments in fragments 2-8.What results do they claim to prove? –why are his arguments so difficult to understand? Are some easier to understand than others? –why does Parmenides offer an account of “mortal opinions” (end of fragment 8 through fragment 19)? –does Parmenides hold that what-is is unique (there is only one thing that exists), that it had no beginning, it will have no end, that it does not move, does not change, that it is a sphere? Answer every questions and expend 2-3 of them