Parmenides
by Plato · Παρμενίδης
Assigned by 2 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- c. 365 BCE
- Language
- Greek
- Length
- Short · 80 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Formidable5 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendComplete Works, translated by Mary Louise Gill and Paul Ryan, in the volume edited by John M. CooperHackett, 1997The Gill and Ryan translation is the clearest available, and the Cooper volume collects every dialogue.
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A young Socrates presents the theory of Forms to the aged Parmenides and his pupil Zeno, and Parmenides raises a sequence of objections, including the regress later called the Third Man, that Socrates cannot answer. In the longer second part Parmenides demonstrates his method of training by examining the hypothesis that the One is, and then that it is not, drawing contradictory conclusions from each. It is the most abstract and demanding of Plato's dialogues.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Parmenides are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
