Practice question · Multiple choice
Parmenides insisted that nothing can come from nothing, yet everyday experience exhibits change. If the pluralist resolution succeeds, what follows for the status of macroscopic objects like bone or flesh?
Hints
- What happens to the fundamental ingredients when a composite object ceases to exist?
- Does qualitative difference reflect novel creation or merely a change in configuration?
Show the answer
B. They are mere temporary proportions of eternal constituents
Why
Pluralism denies genuine generation: macroscopic objects are neither emerging entities nor complete illusions, but observable rearrangements of enduring ingredients. This distinction between fundamental ontology and sensible appearance laid the foundation for mechanistic physics.
Practise The Pluralists: Empedocles and Anaxagoras
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