Parmenides

Summary

The dialogue «Parmenides» by Plato is a philosophical conversation between a young Socrates and the elderly Parmenides, along with his student Zeno. In the first part of the dialogue, Zeno reads his writings that defend Parmenides' doctrine of the unity of being and refute multiplicity. Socrates critiques Zeno, proposing his own theory of forms. In the second part, Parmenides subjects Socrates' theory of forms to rigorous criticism, pointing out its logical contradictions and difficulties. In the concluding part of the dialogue, Parmenides demonstrates the method of dialectics by exploring various hypotheses about the one and the many. The dialogue leaves the reader with open questions about the nature of being and knowledge.