Something about Apologetics.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

I firmly stand behind the claims of Zeno of Elea. He was my childhood hero. I recognized the truth of his arguments even when I was still in my teens.

Just curious; when did your teens end.? From the general flavour and content of your posts,I can't help but think that was quite recently.

But of course he'll never be recognized for his great insight because everyone still erroneously believes that he was wrong, when in fact, he was right on.

That was most certainly not the case at the philosophy faculty in which I studied in 1976.Nor is it my understanding of the general opinion of philosophers today of Zeno.

Some of Zeno's arguments are in fact intentionally invalid, to force the student to think. That is perhaps what the uneducated often misunderstand about the Greek sophists.Today 'sophistry' simply means "a clever but invalid argument used to deceive" This is unrelated to the original meaning and purpose of the sophists.


Claiming Zeno is the father of quantum physics is pretty extraordinary.Why is this view not shared by physicists? They seem to be under the impression that honour belongs to Werner Heisenberg.(1901-1976) I suppose they are simply all wrong?


A genius? I am very frugal in my use of that word, so would not use it for him or Plato,who I revere. Aristotle perhaps,or Heron of Alexandria,certainly Da Vinci and Nicola Tesla.


Without credible evidence,(say peer reviewed papers by actual physicists) I am only able to continue to consider Zeno a brilliant philosopher and logician,but not a physicist

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An example of one of Zeno's invalid arguments:

Zeno to a student with a dog:"is that your dog?"

StudentL: "Yes"

Zeno: "Well,that dog is your father,and every time you beat the dog you beat your father"


OF COURSE the argument is absurd. But why,precisely? (do I know? Yes)

Sophism in the modern definition is a specious argument used for deceiving someone. In ancient Greece, sophists were a category of teachers who specialized in using the tools of philosophy and rhetoric for the purpose of teaching arete — excellence, or virtue — predominantly to young statesmen and nobility. The practice of charging money for education (and providing wisdom only to those who can pay) led to the condemnations made by Socrates (through Plato in his dialogues, as well as Xenophon's Memorabilia). Through works such as these, Sophists were portrayed as 'specious' or 'deceptive', hence the modern meaning of the term.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophistry