Parmenides
He argued that reality is a single, unchanging, and eternal being, and that change is an illusion.
Most quoted
"The only roads of inquiry that are to be thought of: one, that it is and that it is impossible for it not to be, is the path of Persuasion (for she attends upon Truth); the other, that it is not and that it must not be, that I tell you is a path wholly unlearnable."
— from On Nature
"But since all things have been named light and night, and the names corresponding to their powers have been assigned to these things and to those, everything is full of light and obscure night together, of both equally, since neither has any share of nothing."
— from On Nature
"The only roads of enquiry there are to think of: one is that it is and cannot not be, this is the path of Persuasion (for she attends upon truth), the other, that it is not and needs must not be, this I tell you is a path wholly unknowable."
— from On Nature, -475
All quotes by Parmenides (130)
The chariot of the goddesses led me to the gates of truth.
There Justice holds the key, avenging the false oath.
The daughters of the Sun escorted me, unveiling their veils.
Great Olympus left, and the aether.
In correspondence with Heraclitus, I countered that flux is illusion.
Being is spherical, equal from every direction.
No difference can be discerned within it.
In an interview with disciples, I emphasized reason over sense perception.
The One knows no past or future, only present eternity.
Do not be swayed by the opinions of the many.
Truth is the daughter of time, but being is timeless.
Philosophy begins where wonder ceases, but being persists.
In reflection, I find peace in the immutability of existence.
Comeback to skeptics: Your doubts prove the solidity of being.
Art imitates the forms, but being is the true form.
Politics divides, but ontology unites all.
The profound insight: Nothing comes from nothing.
In my final words, embrace the oneness.
Observation: Science must align with the unchanging principles of being.
Life is a journey to discern the real from the apparent.
Contemporaries of Parmenides
Other Philosophys born within 50 years of Parmenides (-515–-450).