The truth is, that these writings of mine were meant to protect the arguments of Parmenides against those who make fun of him and seek to show the many ridiculous and contradictory results which they suppose to follow from the affirmation of the one. My answer is addressed to the partisans of the many, whose attack I return with interest by retorting upon them that their hypothesis of the being of many, if carried out, appears to be still more ridiculous than the hypothesis of the being of one. Zeal for my master led me to write the book in the days of my youth, but some one stole the copy; and therefore I had no choice whether it should be published or not; the motive, however, of writing, was not the ambition of an elder man, but the pugnacity of a young one.
Greek philosopher (c. 495 – c. 430 BC)
Zeno of Elea (pronounced /ˈziːnoʊ əv ˈɛliə/, Greek: Ζήνων ὁ Ἐλεάτης) (ca. 490 BC? – ca. 430 BC?) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of southern Italy and a member of the monistic Eleatic school founded by Parmenides. Aristotle declared him the inventor of the dialectic, which involves a dialogue between two or more people who may hold differing views, yet wish to pursue truth by seeking agreement with one another; in contrast to debate, in which two or more people hold differing views and wish to persuade an audience or prove one another wrong. He is most famous for his paradoxes, which Bertrand Russell described as "immeasurably subtle and profound."
From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Native Name:
Ζήνων ὁ Ἐλεάτης
Alternative Names:
Zeno
From Wikidata (CC0)
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