11/5 Parmenides 35-41

Themes: Change, the nature of the one, Parmenides’ arguments

1. Parmenides argues that thinking and being are identical, i.e., what cannot be thought cannot exist. Why does Parmenides claim that nothingness, change, coning into and going out of existence, as well as division and difference are all inconceivable?

2. What purpose do the concepts of justice, necessity, and fate play in Parmenides’ account of being (i.e., his account of reality)?

3. In Parmenides’ description of the path of mortal opinion, what are the basic features of the universe, and what are the opposite forces that bring about the universe?