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CommentsontheSourcesofGreekPhilosophicalCriticism
27
sionsinthewholepost-Parmenideanthoughttradition(Empedocles,
Anaxagoras,theAtomists,44theSophists,45Plato,46Aristotle,47andoth-
ers).Weshouldaddthatthegoddess’speechinParmenides’poemshould
notnecessarilybeconsideredatypeofdogmaticrevelation,
48
since
thegoddessherselfencouragesthelistenertotakeacriticalstance
towardhermessage:
[ł]kr‹naidślÒgJpolÚdhrinœlegcon
śxśmšqen·hqšnta.49
Thus,itseemsthatanalyzingthesourcesofGreekphiloso-
phyfromtheperspectiveofcriticismallowsustolookatthistradi-
tionmorebroadly,inanycase,departingfromaone-sidedexeget-
icalschemethatreducesearlyGreekthoughttomythology,whose
placewaslatertakenbycosmologico-ontologicalreflection.Theforms
ofcriticismlistedabovecanbefoundinextantfragmentsoftheworks
ofthinkersofthisperiod.
44
Generallyspeaking,Empedocles,Anaxagoras,andtheAtomistsdistinguishthepath
ofopinion(so-calleddarkcognizancebytheAtomists),whichreferstomultiplicity,changeability,
andcomplexity,andthepathoftruthwhichconcentratesoncognizingtheunchanging
andindivisibleessenceofthingsintheformof·izèmata,spšrmata,or¥toma.Forexample,
Democrituswrites:“gnèmhgdśdÚoe„sin„dšai,¹mśngnhs…h,¹dśskot…h·kaiskot…hgmśnt£de
sÚmpanta,Ôyig,¢ko»,Ñdm»,geàsig,yaàsig.¹dśgnhs…h,¢pokekrimšnhdśtaÚthg.”Democritus
B11.Commentingonthispassage,SextusEmpiricusaddsthatmdÚofhsineἶnaignèseig·t¾n
mśndidtîna„sq»sewnt¾ndśdidtÁgdiano…ag,ïnt¾nmśndidtÁgdiano…aggnhs…hnkale‹
prosmarturînaÙtÍtópistóne„g¢lhqe…agkr…sin,t¾ndśdidtîna„sq»sewnskot…hnÑnom£zei
¢fairoÚmenogaÙtÁgtóprógdi£gnwsintoà¢lhqoàg¢planšg.”SextusEmpiricus,mAdversus
Mathematicos,”VII,138.
45
TheSophists,especiallyGorgias,beginwiththisParmenideandistinction,buttheculmination
oftheirviewsisnegativedogmatismandrelativism.
46ThebestexampleofsuchreferencestoParmenidesmaybePlato’sRepublic(476e-480).
47See,forexampleAristotle,Anal.Post.,88bj89b.
48
Therevelationalorilluminationalinterpretationisaccepted,amongothers,byWillem
JacobVerdenius,mParmenides’ConceptionofLight,”Mnemosyne2(1949),KarlDeichgräber,
Parmenides’AuffahrtzurGöttindesRechts:UntersuchungenzumProoimionseinesLehrgedichts
(Mainz:AkademiederWissenschaftenundderLiteratur,1959),p.24.WernerJaeger,ontheother
hand,talksaboutamysteriousvision.SeeWernerJaeger,TheTheologyoftheEarlyGreek
Philosophers(Oxford:OxfordClarendonPress,1947),p.96.
49ParmenidesB7,5-6.
