Philosopher File: Parmenides
The philosopher who argued nothing ever changes
Parmenides is one of the most elusive and enigmatic of all early Greek philosophers. Could he really have been arguing that nothing ever changed? And if so, why?
Life
Parmenides was a philosopher from the city of Elea, a Greek colony on the Italian peninsula. He was born some time around 515 BCE into a wealthy family. It was said that he had a sharp legal mind, and he was responsible for drawing up the laws of the city. He may also have been a student of the philosopher Xenophanes of Colophon, although this is disputed; and there is evidence he was influenced by the Pythagorean philosophers.
Other than this, we have very little reliable biographical information on Parmenides. Nevertheless, the single work he authored has had a profound influence on the traditions of philosophy that find their origins in Ancient Greece.
The poet-philosopher
Parmenides’s single philosophical work was called On Nature, although it is likely that the title was given to the work long after its completion. As a work of philosophy, On Nature is unusual in that it is written in the form of a poem. Although this is not unique: much later, the philosopher Lucretius (c. 99–55 BCE) would also write an…
