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Eleatic Motions Binghamton University The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter 12-28-1982 Eleatic Motions Wallace Matson University of California, Berkeley Follow this and additional works at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/sagp Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Ancient Philosophy Commons, and the History of Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Matson, Wallace, "Eleatic Motions" (1982). The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter. 39. https://orb.binghamton.edu/sagp/39 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). It has been accepted for inclusion in The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter by an authorized administrator of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). For more information, please contact [email protected]. ¤ Į &Į Į íĮ Į Į Į KĮ Į Į 4Į %* Į "V>Į #Į LĮ éĮ =Į ĕ ,Į IĮ 3¢I£¥Į "Į LĮ Į -0 Į :P )':?8&P "/Į *Į Į Į Į ZĮ Į 9 òPĮ - 6Į $ Į ü Į Į Į ?Į *Į SõĮ Į Į 05Į Į 9 g Į . ģĮ ¼ Į Į >Į Į Į ! Į »Į ' Į /?ñĮ Į ®Į Į Į Į +Į Į ¦ V,Į Į 9:(â Į ?/9FP Į Į Į 5Į Į Į ĨTĤĮ Į Į Į Į Į Į Į Ò Į Į #ğĮ ý^ Į :P Į Į Į Į ×Į Į Į §ĐĮ Į 2Į Į Į DĮ ( Į Į àĮ Į öĮ Į Į Į Į :D@P Į Į Į / Į Į Į :P 0Į 0 Î yĮ *Į Į Į Į 3Į zĮ $Į Į Į ';Į % ç Į :?P Į 'Y Į ¿ ĖĮ ")P ÂĮ ))P Į Į +Į Į (Į ÔÕĮ Į P P Į [ Į X+ Į Į R Į % Į ë&Į Į Į Į 'óĮ &Į $Į ÊĮ X+ Į Į Į ³´Į Į ąæĮ :24 P ?:-P Į Į Į ÀĮ G":H "GP Į Į :Į Į Į EĮ ¨Į @)Į ÃþÐĮ Į Į µĮ Į Į 'Į {Į Į Į Į ĆĮ & ČĮ kĮ ī ĬCĮ Į #ĝ6Į Į ÄĮ Į Į Į Į Į <;Į Į Į Į Į + ,Į :>P Į #@Į Ħ >Į & Į Į Į ªĮ Į M Į $Į Į Į Į 5ø Į ) ,GĮ Į G:G)P đĮ :P MĮ Į Ĕ & 1Į #ĜĮ ìĮ Į P Į FĮ JĮ ,P ?Į ! Į ÇĮ Į Į :LP G"P ĘĮ .2Į F":H)P !Į 4Į - Į :*P Į G"GP #ĞĮ Į Į Į Į Į Į «Į *Į $Į Į ćÑĮ Į Į "Į 8tĮ `. 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Like me *But evidently not a Minority in Italy: he says, p. 107, that the true-false contraposition of Aletheia-Do:x:a is 11today rejected unanimously by almost all scholars11 l he acknowledges indebtedness to the work of De Santillana, virtually ignored in this country Great Britain and Germany, but not in Italy. ZENO 4. Plato's Account of Zeno. -- Our solidest information about Zeno is fUrnished by Plato in the Parmenides.* We learn there that Zeno's attachment to Parrnezlides was *The reliability of the account, questioned by Salm.sen, has been vindicated by Vlastos (1975), who however made one concession -- unnecessarjJ,y, as we shall see. peculiarly intimate and that he wrote a book while still a young man for the purpose of defending the lvfaster'� teaching that One Is (hen esti) against those who 11tried to make fun of it11 (epicheirountas auton konmidein), his method being to show that 11the hypothesis that 'many are' would suffer even more ridiculous consequences if followed out far enough" (eti geloiotera paschoi an aut�n he hupothesis, ei pol.la estin ••• ei tis hikanos eperioi). The first argument in it went: 11If things (onta) are many, the same thing (on) is like and unlike; but it is impossible for the same to be like and unlike; therefore the things are not many.11(127E*) *DK do not print the sentence just quoted as a fragment or even as a testimonium, even though they print 127!-D (just before it) and 128B-E (closely following); why I do not know, since Plato has Socrates say explicitly that the sentence is quoted from Zeno's book• . · _ Who were the people who tried to make fun of the Master, whom Zeno intended to "pay back with something left over"? (128D) Were they plain men,* or were they, as *The very notion of a philosophical argument, especia lly a reductio, aimed at "ordinary opinions11 is dubious. Reductio requires a premise to be reduced, and plain men do not deal in premisses. In the history or philosophy there have been a few � not many -- occasions when philosophers have attempted this enterprise, by supplying the putative plain man with premisses. They have not been notably successful. Hume for example asserted that plain men hold that. "perceptions are their only objects," a view which he then proceeded to demolish, to his own satisfaction, by showing that "the slightest philosophyt' -- viz. pressing one eyeball with a finger � shows it to be false. But the plain man, so far from assenting to "perceptions are my only objects," does not have the slightest notion what that utterance means. And if told that what is involved is this: "When you press one eyeball, you see two 'tables;' + but you know there aren't really two tables out there; so what you see can?Be even one real table," he will not be coIIV"inced. Only philosophers - who have perhaps been so incautious as to assert explicitly that what is given in the visual field is identical with what is seen � will find themselves embarrassed. It is so with Zeno's opponents, whoever they were. If plain men, the reply to 11Ir things are many, then they lilllst be both like and unlike" would only be - and quite appropriately -- "Huh?" One might be taken aback if and only if one had previously and explicitly assented to some such unqualified generalization as "It is necessarjJ,y impossible for any adjective, and the adjective with negative prefix, to apply to the same thing." A philosopher might commit himself to such a formula and feel himself bound to defend it; a plain man would not think of it, and if it were proposed to him, he would regard any observation li ke "Then the same thing can't be both like a shoe and unlike a ship?" -3- as sufficient reason not to buy it in the first place. some people nowadays like to say, professional philosophers? Some eviaence bearing on this question can be gained from the dialogue including the � .fil! sc�ne. Zeno began his reading (so Plato says) before an audience of three: Socrates and two unnamed others. Later they were joined by Parmenides, Pythodorus, who later became a general but at that time was a paying student of Zeno (according to Ale. I, 119A); and Aristoteles, later of the Thirty Tyrants. Not counting Parmenides, then, the audience of five contained two persons of special interest in philosophy and three others whose reasons for being there we do not know. Pythodorus had heard it before. The very tininess of the audience reminds us of philosophical meetings today where a few people turn out to hear a not very well known visitor; quite unlike the setting of the Protagoras for example. The Parmenides is a work of fiction of course.
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