Feeling metaphysical this morning? Some of our favorite lines from Parmenides:
Parmenides, fragment 3.7
“Thinking and being are the same thing.”
… τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ νοεῖν ἐστίν τε καὶ εἶναι
For fun, invert the predicate and verb and pretend you’re Yoda.
Parmenides and other presocratics provide a good workout for the articular infinitive.
Parmenides, fr. 2.8-9
“These are the only paths of investigation to contemplate: how it both is and is not possible not to be…and how it is both unnecessary and necessary not to be”
αἵπερ ὁδοὶ μοῦναι διζήσιός εἰσι νοῆσαι·
ἡ μὲν ὅπως ἔστιν τε καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἔστι μὴ εἶναι, ….
ἡ δ’ ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν τε καὶ ὡς χρεών ἐστι μὴ εἶναι
Some great structure in this piece. The stripped down version on the twitter-feed (“the only paths of investigation: how it is and isn’t possible not to be; and how it is isn’t and is necessary not to be”) seems vaguely (and haphazardly) Heraclitean.
Parmenides, fr. 6.16
“The path of all things goes backwards.”
…πάντων δὲ παλίντροπός ἐστι κέλευθος.
Yeah, yeah, Cole: and time is a flat circle, right?
Parmenides, fr. 7.1
“You can never prove that what doesn’t exist exists”
οὐ γὰρ μήποτε τοῦτο δαμῆι εἶναι μὴ ἐόντα·
Is the opposite true as well?
Now, I’m confused.
Parmenides, fr. 1 51-53
“It is right that you learn all things: both the steadfast heart of well-polished truth and the opinions of men…”
χρεὼ δέ σε πάντα πυθέσθαι
ἠμὲν ᾿Αληθείης εὐκυκλέος ἀτρεμὲς ἦτορ
ἠδὲ βροτῶν δόξας….
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