Parmenides was born in Greek colony of Elea in 6th century B.C. He was a descended from a wealthy family. He is reported to have been a student of Xenophanes, and the founder of the School of Elea. It is also known that he had written the laws of the city of Elea. According to Milič Čapek, Parmenides is one of the most significant of Pre-Socratic philosophers. His only known work, conventionally titled ‘On Nature’ is a poem which has only survived in a fragmentary form. Reportedly, the original text had 3,000 lines. Today, approximately only 150 lines of the poem remain.
In his poem, Parmenides describes that reality is one, change is impossible and existence is timeless. Parmenides claimed that truth cannot be recognized by the sensory perception. And can only be understood with pure reason. In his poem he explains the world of appearances, and that it is false and deceitful. These thoughts greatly influenced Plato.
The common understanding of Parmenides’ work is that he argued that every-day perception of reality is mistaken. And in real the world is ‘One Being’. It is undeniable that Parmenides inspired Plato, and through him the rest of the western philosophy. He is often referred to as the grandfather of philosophy. In ‘The Sophist” Plato refers to the work of “our father Parmenides” as something to be taken very seriously and treated with respect.
Socrates says in Theaetetus that Parmenides, along with other philosophers denied that everything is change and motion. Parmenides argued that “movement was impossible because it requires moving into “the void”, and Parmenides identified “the void” with nothing, and therefore (by definition) it does not exist.” [?]