PHIL 160D2 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: None Of The Above, Monism

• School: University of Arizona
• Department: Philosophy Main
• Course: PHIL 160D2
• Professor: John Maloney

Document Summary

Pre-socratics who deny reality of change, motion, pluralist, and reject perception: doubting motion and plurality. Magicians and illusionists entertain us by presenting illusions that impress us as convincing although we know it to be misleading. Familiar illusions of apparent motion show that what seems to move might actually be at rest. Viewed through a prism, a single object can appear to be many. Parmenides (500 bc: monism of parmenides. The one is itself internally simple and lacks any form of differentiation. An argument for monism: if change were possible, then something (ex. a butterfly) could come from nothing. Ex. x finally becomes a butterfly only if x originally is not-a- butterfly. Not-being-a-butterfly= being nothing= nothing: but it is impossible that something come from nothing. I. e. it is impossible that a butterfly come from nothing. So, change is impossible, it is only illusionary. Achilles and the tortoise: consider a straight race course on which achilles and the.