Myśleć = być? Identyczność myślenia i bycia u Parmenidesa

Abstract

Parmenides is among those mysterious philosophers, whose contribution to the western thought is very difficult to evaluate. We have only few fragments of his poem Peri physeos. A strange style of the poem and a puzzling grammatical form of some sentences make the interpretation of Parmenides' text a real challenge. Despite these difficulties histories of philosophy give us what seems to be a fixed and coherent account of Parmenidean ideas. The typical approach regards Parmenides as the great opponent of Heraclitus, and Melissos as a disciple of Parmenides who worked out in details the doctrine of his master. This view turns out to be questionable as we make an attempt to interpret one of the most famous sentences of Parmenidean poem: τò γάρ αύτò νοειν έστίν τε καί ειναι [B3] to think and to be is the same Firstly, an etymological and philosophical discussion over the verb noein displays a special nature of thinking Parmenides had in mind. Secondly, analysis of Parmenidean einai becomes a basis for an important question: what is the subject of Parmenides’ dissertation? It proves to be different from the Melissos’ object of inquiry. Thirdly, the interpreted sentence seems to be involved, at the first sight, in a vicious circle, and while taken out of the circle becomes an unproven premise of Parmenides’ reasoning. At the end we face more questions than answers - an outcome that enhances the inspiring power of Parmenidean philosophy.