Practice question · Sort into groups
Sort each claim by whether Parmenides assigns it to the Way of Truth or the Way of Opinion.
Groups: Way of Truth · Way of Opinion
- The senses report a world of variety and becoming
- What exists is ungenerated and imperishable
- What is, is; what is not, is not
- The world contains many things that move and change
- Reality is one, indivisible and unchanging
Hints
- The Way of Truth is what reason establishes; the Way of Opinion is what the senses report.
- The goddess presents the second while marking it unreliable.
Show the answer
Way of Truth: What is, is; what is not, is not, What exists is ungenerated and imperishable, Reality is one, indivisible and unchanging
Way of Opinion: The world contains many things that move and change, The senses report a world of variety and becoming
Why
The division is between what reason proves and what the senses report, and Parmenides holds that where they conflict, reason wins. That is a genuinely radical commitment, and it is the origin of rationalism.
Practise Parmenides
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More questions on Parmenides
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