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Pythagoras and Parmenides. The Origins of Philosophy
Fascinating illustrations contribute to this illuminating account of how and why philosophy emerged and make it a must-read for any inquisitive thinker unsatisfied with prevailing assumptions on this timely and highly relevant subject.
By taking the reader back to the Greek colonies of Southern Italy more than 500 years B.C.E., the author, with unparalleled insight, tells the story of the Pythagorean quest for otherworldly knowledge—a tale of cultism, political conspiracies, and bloody uprisings that eventually culminate in tragic failure.
The emerging hero is Parmenides, who introduces for the first time a technique for testing the truth of a statement that was not based on physical evidence or mortal sense-perception, but instead relied exclusively on the faculty we humans share with the gods: the ability to reason.
Pythagoras and Parmenides. The Origins of Philosophy
"To Think Like God is a highly ambitious book... Hermann's approach deserves to be taken seriously as an alternative to standard interpretations."
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—Richard D. McKirahan Jr.
Pomona College
"Arnold Hermann brings fresh life into the specialists' debates... A blow of wind that dissipates much fog."
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—Walter Burkert
University of Zurich
"Arnold Hermann makes a genuine contribution to Presocratics (Parmenides) studies. This book, which is both an introduction to Pythagoras and Parmenides and a scholarly study, will interest novices and experts alike. Hermann's multi-leveled approach and his careful analyses of alternate views make his work a useful teaching tool, while his systematic inquiry into Pythagoreanism, the poem of Parmenides, and the development of early Greek thought will well repay the attention of scholars."
—Patricia Curd
Purdue University
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Text, Translation & Introductory Essay
This translation is the result of a collaboration between Arnold Hermann and Dr. Sylvana Chrysakopoulou. Heeding the challenge of balancing intelligibility with faithfulness—while maintaining sufficient consistency to allow the discernment of technical terms—great pains have been taken to secure both accuracy and accessibility. In his Foreword, Douglas Hedley gives an insightful account of the way the Parmenides was received by different cultures and philosophical schools throughout the centuries to the present day.
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Hermann’s Introduction, aimed at first time readers and professional interpreters alike, offers an overview of the most noted philosophical problems addressed in the dialogue, and of its historical background. In view of the fact that certain individual issues have been exhaustively explored by generations of scholars, Hermann chooses to focus also on subjects that have at times been passed over, or trivialized:
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the debt the dialogue may owe to the works of earlier thinkers, or whether it constitutes a response to certain critics of the Theory of Forms; as for the Theory itself, whether it is bolstered or superseded by the dialogue’s conclusions, or whether there is such a thing as a “simple,” unparticipated Form, and if there is, why it cannot be the subject of an account; also, the issue of the “interweaving of Forms,” (the Sophist) is discussed, in light of its possible relevance to the Second Part of the Parmenides. Finally, Hermann provides an overview with a listing and summaries of the individual conclusions to each of the eight central arguments of the dialgoue’s Second Part (plus Coda).
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"Arnold Hermann has rendered a major service to every student of Plato by presenting us with a new translation (in collaboration with Sylvana Chrysakopoulou) of the dialogue Parmenides conveniently facing the Greek text, together with a challenging introductory essay that calls attention to the important Eleatic dimension pervading all of Plato’s work. Thus Hermann’s insightful commentary pursues the close connections between the Sophist and the Parmenides, while also recognizing the Zenonian character of many of the arguments in Parmenides Part Two. The result is a fuller picture of the links between Parmenides and Plato, as well as between the Parmenides and the other dialogues.
There is a thoughtful Foreword by Douglas Hedley tracing the Parmenidean philosophical legacy through Neoplatonism down to Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein."
—Charles H. Kahn
Professor of Philosophy
University of Pennsylvania
"It is always enlightening to re-read Plato, however often one does so, and to re-read the Parmenides in the company of Arnold Hermann and Sylvana Chrysakopoulou's lucid and elegant translation, with its fine introduction and notes, is a pleasure indeed. We will no doubt never quite solve all the puzzles presented by this most troublesome of Plato's works, but this new edition is a powerful stimulus to try once more."
—John M. Dillon
Emeritus Professor of Greek
Trinity College, Dublin
“Plato’s Parmenides is a notoriously complex and difficult work that has been controversial since antiquity. Arnold Hermann’s new book, consisting of the Greek text, a translation, and a brief interpretative commentary, is therefore most welcomed… Hermann and Chrysakopoulou's translation is vivid, well phrased, and often helps to clarify obscure and debatable passages of the text. [The] interpretative essay contributes greatly to the understanding of the dialogue, giving the various alternative interpretations and presenting many fresh ideas. Especially helpful and illuminating is the systematization of the eight hypotheses and the conclusions drawn from them in the second part of the dialogue. Although there is a vast literature on the Parmenides, Hermann’s book offers original insights into central problems of the dialogue. The book will be valuable for all scholars and students of Plato.”
—Vassilis Karasmanis
Professor of Philosophy
National Technical University of Athens
Festschrift at Delphi in Honor of Charles Kahn
This celebratory Festschrift dedicated to Charles Kahn comprises some 23 articles by friends, former students and colleagues, many of whom first presented their papers at the international "Presocratics and Plato" Symposium in his honor (European Cultural Center of Delphi, Greece, 3–7 June, 2009). The conference was organized and sponsored by the HYELE Institute for Comparative Studies, Parmenides Publishing, and Starcom AG, with endorsements from the International Plato Society, and the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania.
While Kahn's work reaches far beyond the Presocratics and Plato, it is in these subject areas that the distinction of his scholarship has come to be regarded as virtually unrivaled. The articles contributed to this volume are by some of the most renowned scholars working on these topics today, their breadth and depth bearing witness to his profound impact and influence on the discipline of Ancient Greek Philosophy.
RICHARD PATTERSON
Richard Patterson is Professor of Philosophy at Emory University. His publications include Image and Reality in Plato's Metaphysics (1985) and Aristotle's Modal Logic: Essence and Entailment in the Organon (1995).
VASSILIS KARASMANIS
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Vassilis Karasmanis is Professor of Philosophy at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. He is the author of many books, including Socrates: The Wise Man who knew nothing (2002), and co-editor, with L. Judson, of Remembering Socrates (2006).
ARNOLD HERMANN
Arnold Hermann is founder and director of the HYELE Institute for Comparative Studies. He specializes in Presocratic philosophy, metaphysics, and methods of thinking, and is the author of To Think Like God: Pythagoras and Parmenides—The Origins of Philosophy (2004), and Plato's Parmenides: Text, Translation & Introductory Essay (2010).
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Charles Kahn has been a major presence in the world of ancient Greek philosophy since his first publications at the end of the 1950s. The present volume, a Festschrift, contains an 11-page list of his publications, and anyone working in the field will instantly recognize many of the titles and know their importance. Post-Aristotelian philosophy features rarely, Aristotle somewhat less rarely, Plato (especially ‘early’ Plato) and the Presocratics heavily. Hence the title and focus of this book, though in fact of the three essays in the fourth and final section of the book, ‘Plato and Beyond’, two are on Neoplatonism (the other on Aristotle). The other sections are: ‘The Presocratics’ (six essays); ‘Plato: Studies in Individual Dialogues’ (nine essays); and ‘Themes in Plato’ (five essays). Given Kahn's longevity and importance, it is no surprise to see that the list of contributors, friends and students, is star-studded.
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—Robin Waterfield
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Plato, Theaetetus 183e
In October of 2007, the Universidad Nacional de San Martín (Argentina) hosted an International Symposium on the philosophy of Parmenides to celebrate the creation of the University’s new Center for the Study of Ancient Philosophy. The event—co-organized by the HYELE Institute for Comparative Studies (Switzerland) and Parmenides Publishing—brought together scholars from around the world to present their latest work and participate in discussion. These Proceedings present the collected papers that were given—all fully translated into English—and edited by Néstor-Luis Cordero.
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During the two years leading up to the International Symposium, no fewer than seven books on Parmenides were published.
This revival and resurgence of interest in Parmenides and the critical reviews of traditional interpretations of his poem made this the perfect time for a global conference dedicated to the renowned figure known as the true father of philosophy.
The Symposium on Parmenides united the world's foremost Parmenidean scholars, with many participants having written one, if not several books on Parmenides. The proceedings volume therefore represents the most cutting-edge and in-depth scholarship on Parmenides available today, and will be a great and timely enrichment to the field of Presocratic Philosophy.
"An analogous critique of Plato is at the heart of Arnold Hermann’s “Parricide or Heir? Plato’s Uncertain Relationship to Parmenides”. He provides Parmenides, whom he likens to Houdini (162), with two ways to escape the strictures of the Eleatic Stranger—whose relationship to Parmenides is also explored by Fabián Mié and Gabriel Livov—while showing the origins of “the myth of Parmenidean Monism” (162)."
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—William H. F. Altman
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Selected Papers
"Pythagorean Lore: Ancient Sources and Interpretative Problems." SYMPOSIUM PHILOSOPHIAE ANTIQUAE QUINTUM, 16-28 July 2005 in Pythagorein (Samos) and Kusadasi (near Ephesus).
"Parmenides’ Methodology: The Unity of Formula.” SYMPOSIUM MEGARENSE, 20-27 August 2005, Loutraki, Greece.
"Parmenides, Plato, and 'the art most people condemn as useless chattering.'" Coloque sur "Le philosophe antique et la société de son temps," 15-17 June 2006, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
"The Question of 'What Is Not': Is it the Achilles Heel in Parmenides?" Lecture given at the Trinity College Dublin, Plato Centre, 23 Nov 2007.
"Negative Proof and Circular Reasoning." In ELEATICA 2006: Parmenide scienziato? Livio Rossetti, Flavia Marcacci, eds. Academia Verlag, 2008.
"Ways to the Divine: The Eleatics, Plato, and Philosophy's Quest for the Right Method." Lecture given at The D Society, Clare College, University of Cambridge, England, 16 May 2008.
"The SOPHIST in the PARMENIDES: What a Difference 'Is Not' Makes." Lecture given at The D Society, Clare College, University of Cambridge, England, 17 May 2008.
"Parmenides versus Heraclitus?" In Nuevos Ensayos Sobre Heráclito. Actas Del Segundo Symposium Heracliteum. Enrique Hülsz Piccone, ed. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2009.
"What are the sÄ“mata of 'What Is Not' in Parmenides’ Poem?" In Parmenide: ontologia scienza mito I risultati della ricerca internzionale a confronto, 29 September-01 October 2010. Ca'Foscari University, Venice, Italy. L. Ruggiu, C. Natali, S. Maso, eds. Mimesis, 2011.
"Quantum Presocratics." International Association for Presocratic Studies. Third Biennal Conference, in Mérida (Yucatán), Mexico, 09–13 January 2012.
"Parricide or Heir? Plato's Uncertain Relationship to Parmenides." In PARMENIDES Venerable & Awesome. Plato Theaetetus 183e. Proceedings of the International Symposium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Parmenides Publishing, 2012.
"Plato's Eleatic Challenge and the Problem of Self-predication in the Parmenides." In Presocratics and Plato: Festschrift Symposium in Honor of Charles H. Kahn, in Delphi, Greece. R. Patterson, V. Karasmanis, A. Hermann, eds. Parmenides Publishing, 2013.
"A Short Exposition for the Artificial Intuition Workshop." At the Center Leo Apostel for Transdisciplinary Research, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, 16 October 2023.