Cover of Parmenides

Parmenides

by Plato

First published
1972
Reading level
Plain English
Price
Free

About the book

"Parmenides" by Plato is a dialogue written in ancient Greece. It depicts a young Socrates meeting the renowned philosophers Parmenides and Zeno, who challenge his Theory of Forms. Through rigorous questioning, Parmenides presents five complex arguments that expose potential contradictions in Socrates' distinction between eternal Forms and particular things. The work reverses the usual dynamic, positioning Socrates as student rather than teacher, and explores fundamental questions about unity, plurality, and the nature of reality itself.

  • Classical literature
  • Dialectic
  • Socrates, 470 BC-399 BC
  • Philosophy, Ancient
  • Reasoning
  • Ontology

Updated September 2026. Public domain in the USA. Text and summary from Project Gutenberg eBook #1687. Parmenides on Wikipedia.

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