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Autor: Voegelin, Eric Buch: The World of the Polis Titel: The World of the Polis Stichwort: Parmenides; Irrtümer im Gefolge der Formulierung der Identität von Denken und Sein Kurzinhalt: that thinking and being are the same ...; if they are generalized into logical theories applicable to propositions concerning immanent objects, fantastic consequences will ensue Textausschnitt: 282a A clear understanding of this point is of special importance because its misunderstanding lies at the root of a good deal of Greek philosophizing for the next three generations. The experiential conviction of the "Is!," as grasped by the Nous, was expressed by Parmenides in the formulae already quoted that thinking and being are the same, that Notbeing cannot be because it cannot be thought (noem), and so forth. If such formulations are not understood as true only in the context of an inquiry into the "Is!," if they are generalized into logical theories applicable to propositions concerning immanent objects, fantastic consequences will ensue. If we assume that all that is thinkable is, we can arrive at the conclusion that error is impossible; if error refers to Notbeing, error is impossible because Notbeing does not exist-and this was indeed the theory of Antisthenes. Since the result is absurd, others may arrive at the opposite conclusion that Being is unthinkable, and only Notbeing is thinkable-as did Gorgias or Aristippus. And if the thesis that the thinkable is receives a subjective slant, we arrive at the Protagorean principle of man as the measure of things.1 The problem remains one of the unresolved components in Plato's Parmenides, and through the mediation of Plato it has co-determined Neopla-tonic speculation. The inability to achieve clearness about it still determines Aristotle's attack on the Platonic conception of ideas as forms in separate existence. (Fs) (notabene) |