PHIL 232 Lecture Notes - Ex Nihilo, Melissus Of Samos, Eleatics
8 Oct 2013
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Document Summary
Three main topics to consider during study of parmenides: Every object of inquiry must exist: universal claim. Number of stars in the universe, whether love is true, what tomorrow"s weather will be, etc. It"s easy in philosophy to miss the grandiose implications of these universal claims: texts: For in no way may this prevail, that things that are not, are. (plato) That which is there to be spoken and thought of must be. For it is possible for it to be but not possible for nothing to be (simplicius: argument in favour of this metaphysical claim. This argument moves from the obvious to the more obscure and shocking. Nature of existence things can exist in different ways: material objects and abstract objects, unicorns and other imaginary things exist as abstract ideas, mathematical concepts exist. So one can only study what must exist. Problem - there is a jump here to what must be.
