The Road Less Traveled - Parmenides

-Parmenides (c. 515-460 BC) could be considered to be the father of metaphysics.
   -What is "metaphysics"?
      -Kind of difficult to define, but it's basically the study of existence and the exploration of the deep questions. 
         -Does God exist?  Does the soul exist?  Does ANYTHING exist??  What about free will?  etc.
      -We saw some of this stuff with other Pre-Socratics (especially Xenophanes), but it's likely that Parmenides was his student.
   -This was a crazy time in Greek history too, as it was the beginning of the great Persian invasions as well as the Peloponnesian War after that!
      -However, it was also a time of wonder too, as Greek math and science was booming in addition to philosophy.
          -Socrates had appeared on the scene, the Pythagoreans were doing crazy math shit, and medicine was really moving forward as well.
-Parmenides was from the city of Elea, Magna Graecia (modern-day Velia, Campania, Italy).
   -His followers were known as the Eleadics, named after Parmenides' hometown.
   -His philosophy:  Everything is one!  Nothing ever actually changes or moves.  Anything that appears as such is just an illusion.
      -Argues this through poetry and abstract reason rather than observation.
      -Seems to agree with Heraclitus that everyone else is completely confused about the nature of reality.
   -Wrote an epic poem called... "On Nature" (of course).
      -Tells a tale where Parmenides rides on a chariot with a bunch of hot chicks (the daughters of the god Helios) up to gates which lead to the "paths of night and day".  The hot girls persuade a goddess (unnamed, but thought to be either Sophia, Ananke, or Themis) to let the chariot through, and then she congratulates him because mortals aren't allowed to/don't travel.  He will learn two things: the opinion of mortals, and... the truth.
         -The fact that Parmenides decided to split his idea into two different categories (knowledge and belief) is a precursor to epistemology.
         -"The Way of Truth": Parmenides' arguments for the unity of being.
            -Two possible paths of inquiry: "Is and must be" OR "Isn't and can't be".
               -Obviously, we must follow the "is and must be" path because we can't logically discuss the nature of what exists with what doesn't exist (I guess that makes sense?  Maybe I need to revisit this part).
                  -Also, there's kind of a third path later on which discusses that which does and doesn't exist simultaneously, which is totally confusing and surprisingly the path most people follow, which is why they're confused!
               -Anyway, as we go down the path of "Is and must be", it takes a strange turn.  We realize that "being cannot begin to be, because that would mean that at one point it was not being.  Also, "being" can't be destroyed either because "non-being" can't be.  Therefore, change is impossible because if change existed then that would mean that it would be possible for things that "aren't" to come into being and vice-versa.
                  -So, "being" isn't one thing a one time, and then another thing at a later time, because that would count as change.  Furthermore, "being", then, MUST have unity at ANY given time.  Parmenides also points out that if being were divided up or changed, there would be "gaps" (and thus non-existence).
                  -He then goes on to talk about how existence is a sphere, although we're not sure if he means this literally or as a metaphor.
         -Regardless, he is arguing that "being" must be perfect because if it wasn't perfect, it would lack something that it COULD have, which would thus mean that it would contain "non-being" characteristics, and that's impossible!
         -"The Way of Opinion": a typical Pre-Socratic cosmology, but also he warns to not trust it completely...
            -Argues that his way of opinion, though perhaps flawed, is still the best way because it's (at least at this point) the most logical explanation for what the cosmos is exactly and shit.  However, the most important thing is that we follow philosophical argument and not our senses!
      -Parmenides then goes on to talk about how existence is a sphere, although we're not sure if he means this literally or as a metaphor.
         -Regardless, he is arguing that "being" must be perfect because if it wasn't perfect, it would lack something that it COULD have, which would thus mean that it would contain "non-being" characteristics, and that's impossible!
-All of this is, in the study of philosophy and critical thinking, called a "rational deduction": starting from a basic principle (you can have "is" but not "is not") an then exploring that idea in greater detail.
   -This is a big deal, too, in the evolution of philosophical thinking.
      -Parmenides isn't just producing rational observation based on what he can see (the Way of Opinion), but he goes on to discuss the power of argument and how he trusts that more than his own senses.
         -This doesn't mean that he was the first philosopher to argue something, but rather he tries to explain an abstract philosophical concept through rational deductions, which was new!
-Side note: Parmenides' ideas of existence may not have gained a huge following, but they were very intriguing to Plato and Aristotle, and would make a huge comeback in the Middle Ages for people trying to prove the existence of God!