About this ebook
Parmenides and the Origin of Metaphysics offers a novel and comprehensive solution to one of the oldest interpretive puzzles in the history of ancient Greek philosophy: the so-called "problem of the Doxa." This puzzle arises out of an apparent conflict between the main part of Parmenides' poem, called "the Aletheia," and the cosmological part, called "the Doxa." Whereas in the Aletheia he seems to argue that nothing is generated, divided, or changing, in the Doxa he seems to presuppose that lots of things are. Over the last century, the standard solution to this puzzle has been to marginalize the Doxa, and hold that, according to Parmenides, the theory presented there is logically or rationally incoherent. Matthew Evans defends an alternative solution: the two parts of the poem are not at odds with each other, because each of them is about a distinct kind of thing. Evans argues that the cosmological part is about the things we encounter in the world around us, while the main part is about the underlying nature or reality of such things. By working carefully and systematically through the poem's most challenging passages, the book shows how this alternative solution makes surprisingly good sense. It also shows, at a deeper level, how continuous the discipline of metaphysics has been, from the beginning, with the theory-building enterprise of the empirical sciences.
Parmenides and the Origin of Metaphysics offers a novel and comprehensive solution to one of the oldest interpretive puzzles in the history of ancient Greek philosophy: the so-called "problem of the Doxa." This puzzle arises out of an apparent conflict between the main part of Parmenides' poem, c...
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
