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This article is about a Greek philosopher (not to be confused with Zeno of Citium). Zeno of Citium (Ζήνων ὁ Κιτιεύς Zēnōn ho Kitieŭs) (334 BC - 262 BC was a Greek Philosopher from Citium (Κίτιον For other uses of the name, see Zeno.

Zeno of Elea (pronounced /ˈziːnoʊ əv ˈɛliə/, Greek: Ζήνων ὁ Ἐλεάτης) (ca. Elea may refer to Velia (town, Italy Elea Kyrenia, Cyprus Elea Nicosia, Cyprus Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly 490 BC? – ca. Events By place Greece Darius I sends an expedition under Artaphernes and Datis the Mede across 430 BC?) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of southern Italy and a member of the Eleatic School founded by Parmenides. Events By place Greece The army of Sparta loots Attica for a second time but Pericles is not daunted and refuses The Pre-Socratic Greek philosophers were active before Socrates or contemporaneously but expounding knowledge developed earlier Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language The Eleatics were a school of pre-Socratic philosophers at Elea, a Greek colony in Campania, Italy. Parmenides of Elea ( Greek:, early 5th century BC was an Ancient Greek Philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Aristotle called him the inventor of the dialectic[1], and Bertrand Russell credited him with having laid the foundations of modern logic. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. In classical Philosophy, dialectic (διαλεκτική is controversy the exchange of arguments and counter-arguments respectively advocating Propositions Bertrand Arthur William Russell 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970 was a British Philosopher, Historian He is best known for his paradoxes.

Contents

Life

Little is known for certain about Zeno's life. Although written nearly a century after Zeno's death, the primary source of biographical information about Zeno is the dialogue of Plato called the Parmenides. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Parmenides is one of the Dialogues of Plato. It is perhaps Plato 's most challenging dialogue [2] In the dialogue, Plato describes a visit to Athens by Zeno and Parmenides, at a time when Parmenides is "about 65," Zeno is "nearly 40" and Socrates is "a very young man" (Parmenides 127). The History of Athens is one of the longest of any city in Europe and in the world SOCRATES is the European Community action programme in the field of Education. Assuming an age for Socrates of around 20, and taking the date of Socrates' birth as 470 BC, gives an approximate date of birth for Zeno of 490 BC. Events By Place Greece Suspected of plotting to seize power in Sparta by instigating a Helot uprising Pausanias takes Plato has written that Zeno was about twenty-five years younger than Parmenides. [3]

Plato says that Zeno was "tall and fair to look upon" and was "in the days of his youth … reported to have been beloved by Parmenides" (Parmenides 127).

Other perhaps less reliable details of Zeno's life are given in Diogenes Laertius' Lives of Eminent Philosophers,[4] where it is reported that he was the son of Teleutagoras, but the adopted son of Parmenides, was "skilled to argue both sides of any question, the universal critic," and further that he was arrested and perhaps killed at the hands of a tyrant of Elea. Diogenes Laërtius ( Greek:, Diogénes Laértios) the biographer of the Greek Philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname

Works

Although several ancient writers refer to the writings of Zeno, none of his writings survive intact.

Plato says that Zeno's writings were "brought to Athens for the first time on the occasion of" the visit of Zeno and Parmenides (Parmenides 127). Plato also has Zeno say that this work, "meant to protect the arguments of Parmenides," was written in Zeno's youth, stolen, and published without his consent (Parmenides 128). Plato has Socrates paraphrase the "first thesis of the first argument" of Zeno's work as follows: "if being is many, it must be both like and unlike, and this is impossible, for neither can the like be unlike, nor the unlike like" (Parmenides 127).

According to Proclus in his Commentary on Plato's Parmenides, Zeno produced "not less than forty arguments revealing contradictions" (p. Proclus Lycaeus ( February 8, c 411 &ndash April 17, 485) called "The Successor" or "Diadochos" ( Greek Próklos 29).

Zeno's arguments are perhaps the first examples of a method of proof called reductio ad absurdum, literally meaningto reduce to the absurd. Reductio ad absurdum ( Latin for "reduction to the absurd" also known as an apagogical argument, reductio ad impossibile Parmenides is said to be the first individual to implement this style of argument. This form of argument soon became known as the epicheirema. In Book VII of his Topica, Aristotle says that an epicheirema is a dialectical syllogism. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. A syllogism, or logical appeal, (συλλογισμός &mdash "conclusion" "inference" (usually the categorical syllogism) is a kind of It is a connected piece of reasoning which an opponent has put forward as true. The disputant sets out to break down the dialectical syllogism. Zeno is thought to have devised forty different epicheiremata to support aspects of Parmenides' monism. Monism is the metaphysical and Theological view that all is one that all reality is subsumed under the most fundamental category of being or existence This destructive method of argument was maintained by him to such a degree that Seneca the Younger commented a few centuries later, If I accede to Parmenides there is nothing left but the One; if I accede to Zeno, not even the One is left. Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca, or Seneca the Younger; Σένεκας in Ancient Greek literature (c [3]

Zeno's paradoxes

Main article: Zeno's paradoxes

Zeno's paradoxes have puzzled, challenged, influenced, inspired, infuriated, and amused philosophers, mathematicians, physicists and school children for over two millennia. The most famous are the so-called "arguments against motion" described by Aristotle in his Physics. [5]

Notes

  1. ^ Cited in Diogenes Laertius 8. Diogenes Laërtius ( Greek:, Diogénes Laértios) the biographer of the Greek Philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname 57 and 9. 25.
  2. ^ Plato (370 BCE). Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Parmenides, translated by Benjamin Jowett. Internet Classics Archive.
  3. ^ a b Zeno in The Presocratics, Philip Wheelwright ed. , The Odyssey Press, 1966, Pages 106-107. Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar.
  4. ^ Diogenes Laertius. Diogenes Laërtius ( Greek:, Diogénes Laértios) the biographer of the Greek Philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1853. Scanned and edited for Peithô's Web.
  5. ^ Aristotle (350 BCE). Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Physics, translated by R. P. Hardie and R. K. Gaye. Internet Classics Archive.

References

See also

Further reading

External links

External links to online texts

  1. Plato's Parmenides.
  2. Aristotle's Physics.
  3. Diogenes Laertius' Lives of Eminent Philosophers.
Persondata
NAME Zeno of Elea
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ζήνων ὁ Ἐλεάτης;
SHORT DESCRIPTION pre-Socratic Greek philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH 490 BC?
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH 430 BC?
PLACE OF DEATH
The Pre-Socratic Greek philosophers were active before Socrates or contemporaneously but expounding knowledge developed earlier Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Events By place Greece Darius I sends an expedition under Artaphernes and Datis the Mede across Events By place Greece The army of Sparta loots Attica for a second time but Pericles is not daunted and refuses
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