Melissus, Time and Eternity

• Authors: Massimo Pulpito

Title variants

EN

Melissus, Time and Eternity

• Languages of publication: IT

Abstracts

IT

The traditional interpretation of Eleatism has it (1) that Melissus was a disciple of Parmenides (albeit with some divergences) and (2) that Parmenides believed in the timeless eternity of Being. It seems, on the contrary, (3) that Melissus acknowledged the reality of time by conceiving eternity as infinite time. Failing to justify this particular divergence from Parmenides’ approach, certain authors held that it was necessary to reinterpret the Melissan eternity as a form of infinite timelessness. This paper attempts to demonstrate that this reading is groundless and that if the traditional interpretation is questioned then one should reconsider the assumptions (1) and (2) but not (3).

EN

The traditional interpretation of Eleatism has it (1) that Melissus was a disciple of Parmenides (albeit with some divergences) and (2) that Parmenides believed in the timeless eternity of Being. It seems, on the contrary, (3) that Melissus acknowledged the reality of time by conceiving eternity as infinite time. Failing to justify this particular divergence from Parmenides’ approach, certain authors held that it was necessary to reinterpret the Melissan eternity as a form of infinite timelessness. This paper attempts to demonstrate that this reading is groundless and that if the traditional interpretation is questioned then one should reconsider the assumptions (1) and (2) but not (3).

Keywords

EN

Melissus; Parmenides; Time; Eternity; Atemporality; Eleatism

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Peitho. Examina Antiqua
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 107-124

Dates

published

2017-10-24

Contributors

author

Massimo Pulpito

• Universidade de Brasília

References

• Albertelli, P., 1939, Gli Eleati. Testimonianze e frammenti, Bari (ora Milano 2014).
• Calogero, G., 1977, Studi sull’eleatismo, Firenze, (I ed. Roma 1932).
• Cordero, N.-L., 1999, “Una tragedia filosófica: del ‘se es’ de Parménides al Ser-Uno de Meliso”, Revista Latinoamericana de Filosofía 25, pp. 283–293.
• Cordero, N.-L., 2004, By Being, It Is. The Thesis of Parmenides, Las Vegas.
• Curd, P. K., 2004, The Legacy of Parmenides. Eleatic Monism and Later Presocratic Thought, Las Vegas (I ed. Princeton 1998).
• Di Napoli, G., 1953, La concezione dell’essere nella filosofia greca, Milano.
• Drozdek, A., 2001, “Eleatic Being: Finite or Infinite?”, Hermes 129, pp. 306–313.
• Gigon, O., 1945, Der Ursprung der griechischen Philosophie von Hesiod bis Parmenides, Basel.
• Graeser, A., 1972, The Argument of Melissus, Athens.
• Guthrie, W. K. C., 1965, A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. II: The Presocratic Tradition from Parmenides to Democritus, Cambridge.
• Heitsch, E., 1974, Parmenides. Die Anfänge der Ontologie, Logik und Naturwissenschaft, München.
• Jaeger, W., 1953, Die Theologie der frühen griechischen Denker, Stuttgart.
• Loenen, J. H. M. M., 1959, Parmenides, Melissus, Gorgias. A Reinterpretation of Eleatic Philosophy Assen.
• Mansfeld, J., 1964, Die Offenbarung des Parmenides und die menschliche Welt, Assen.
• Mansfeld, J. et al., 2016, Melissus between Miletus and Elea, M. Pulpito (ed.), Sankt Augustin.
• Marcacci, F., 2008, Alle origini dell’assiomatica: gli Eleati, Aristotele, Euclide, Roma.
• Mondolfo, R., 1956, L’infinito nel pensiero dell’antichità classica, Firenze.
• O’Brien, D., 1980, “Temps et intemporalité chez Parménide”, Les Études Philosophiques 55, pp. 257–272.
• Palmer, J., 2003, “On the Alleged Incorporeality of What Is in Melissus”, Ancient Philosophy 23, pp. 1–10.
• Palmer, J., 2004, “Melissus and Parmenides”, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 26, pp. 19–54.
• Pulpito, M., 2011, “Quanto dura τὸ ἐόν? Parmenide e la presupposizione del tempo”, in: L. Ruggiu, C. Natali (cur.), Ontologia scienza mito. Per una nuova lettura di Parmenide, Milano, pp. 257–269.
• Pulpito, M., 2017, “Melisso critico di Parmenide”, Archai (forthcoming).
• Reale, G., 1970, Melisso. Testimonianze e frammenti, Firenze.
• Sedley, D., 1999, “Parmenides and Melissus”, in: A.A. Long (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy, Cambridge, pp. 113–133.
• Shoemaker, S., 1969, “Time Without Change”, Journal of Philosophy 66, pp. 363–381.
• Tarán, L., 1979, “Perpetual Duration and Atemporal Eternity in Parmenides and Plato”, The Monist 62, pp. 43–53.
• Vitali, R., 1973, Melisso di Samo: sul mondo o sull’essere. Una interpretazione dell’eleatismo, Urbino.
• Whittaker, J., 1971, “Parmenides fr. 8,5”, in: Idem, God, Time, Being. Two Studies in the Trascendental Tradition in Greek Philosophy - Symbolae Osloenses, Suppl., 23, pp. 16–32.
• Zafiropulo, J., 1950, L’École éléate: Parménide, Zénon, Melissos, Paris.

Identifiers

DOI

10.14746/pea.2017.1.6