Similarities And Weaknesses Of Heraclitus And Parmenides

Heraclitus and Parmenides were two of the most influential and enigmatic of the Presocratic philosophers. Heraclitus argued for the idea that reality is impermanent, while Parmenides argued that reality is static. Parmenides also focused on using rationality to discern the nature of reality, as opposed to Heraclitus’ use of sensory experiences. They both argued for reality being one distinct thing, however there are differences between them in this idea of unity. Nietzsche s perspectivism is important in discussing the problems with either view as we should take the strengths and weakness of both into account to create a better understanding of the world. Parmenides of Elea was a prominent philosopher of the 5th century BCE who†¦show more content†¦This leaves us with what James Warren (2007) describes as an ‘unfamiliar reality which leaves no room for change, plurality, motion, difference, people, days or nights’. This idea of change being an illusion means that complete, objective and timeless knowledge exists that cannot be changed. This also allows for analysis as many things, such as analysing how bee colonies are organised and the functions within it require a focus on structure and commonality. This view was in dialectical opposition to Heraclitus of Ephesus, who argued that the world is in a constant state of flux. Heraclitus argues that there is a problem with people’s attachment to the illusion of permanence. Everything in the world will not stay the same, we can see this from the idea from Heraclitus that ‘it is not possible to step twice into the same river, according to Heraclitus, nor to touch mortal substance twice in any condition’ (Plutarch, 392B). Rivers are bodies of water that continually flows so that every second the water at a point in the river is not the same as it was before. The state of the physical world has never remained the same; mountains move over millions of years, a few billion years ago Earth could not sustain life, and even longer ago there were no solids, no liquids, only gases. Each moment can be said to die and be reborn in the next, so that change occurs every moment and it