(November 26, 2013 at 2:01 am)I and I Wrote: Parmenides has been the most significant thinker of all the Plato dialogues. It seems that all philosophical thought has been based on the question of Parmenides.
Parmenides' thought has certainly been very influential, but Plato's thought has been far more impactful and influential on philosophical thought. Hence Alfred Whitehead's joke(?) that the entire history of philosophy is but an "extended series of footnotes to Plato."
Quote:Heidegers notion of being was something that we can relate to but not get close to by using concepts and language. This was similar to Kants use of language to understand "the real" only Kant believes that language and concepts got us closer to the "real" being.
From what I've read of Kant, he doesn't think it's possible to talk about "the real" because it lies beyond subjective experience, which is the necessary limit of what one can meaningfully speak of.
Quote:But if being is the whole then language and concepts can't divide what we call "being" into different categories, if it was separated and categorized then it wouldn't be "being" anymore.
That assumes being is this singular thing that can be ascertained. I'd stake my lot with Hume's thought that there is no undivided self, but at best a bunch of impressions and ideas.
Quote:Hegel (the greatest philosopher) had a different approach to Parmenides. Hegel believed that absolute knowledge (not to be confused with absolute truth) was the way to understanding "being" he called being "spirit". The different terms to describe "one" "being" "spirit" are all terms for the indescribable and unknowable world beyond our finitude of sense experience.
Hm, maybe I misunderstood you, as you seem to be saying the same thing I was saying about Kant's thought.
