Thinking, Supposing, and Physis in Parmenides

What could justify the Presocratic conviction that human beings can have knowledge? The answer that I am exploring in a larger project is that most Presocratic thinkers share a commitment to the possibility of a “natural fit” between the world and human understanding. Two claims underlie this commit...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Patricia Curd
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Société d’Études Platoniciennes 2016-04-01
Series:Études Platoniciennes
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/etudesplatoniciennes/741
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850024467880738816
author Patricia Curd
author_facet Patricia Curd
author_sort Patricia Curd
collection DOAJ
description What could justify the Presocratic conviction that human beings can have knowledge? The answer that I am exploring in a larger project is that most Presocratic thinkers share a commitment to the possibility of a “natural fit” between the world and human understanding. Two claims underlie this commitment: the first is the basic intelligibility of the cosmos. The second is that human beings can come to know things beyond their limited sensory experience, for in properly exercising their capacities for perception, thought, and understanding, they can come to have the knowledge that earlier Greeks thought was reserved for the gods. Here I explore a small part of one chapter of the story I want to tell: Parmenides’ accounts of what-is and of thinking and the implications of these views for the possibility of human knowledge about the world around us. The paper concentrates on Parmenides, beginning with a few comments about Heraclitus.
format Article
id doaj-art-cdc22a2dbfd24ce08770d8486a7dc74d
institution DOAJ
issn 2275-1785
language deu
publishDate 2016-04-01
publisher Société d’Études Platoniciennes
record_format Article
series Études Platoniciennes
spelling doaj-art-cdc22a2dbfd24ce08770d8486a7dc74d2025-08-20T03:01:06ZdeuSociété d’Études PlatoniciennesÉtudes Platoniciennes2275-17852016-04-011210.4000/etudesplatoniciennes.741Thinking, Supposing, and Physis in ParmenidesPatricia CurdWhat could justify the Presocratic conviction that human beings can have knowledge? The answer that I am exploring in a larger project is that most Presocratic thinkers share a commitment to the possibility of a “natural fit” between the world and human understanding. Two claims underlie this commitment: the first is the basic intelligibility of the cosmos. The second is that human beings can come to know things beyond their limited sensory experience, for in properly exercising their capacities for perception, thought, and understanding, they can come to have the knowledge that earlier Greeks thought was reserved for the gods. Here I explore a small part of one chapter of the story I want to tell: Parmenides’ accounts of what-is and of thinking and the implications of these views for the possibility of human knowledge about the world around us. The paper concentrates on Parmenides, beginning with a few comments about Heraclitus.https://journals.openedition.org/etudesplatoniciennes/741PresocraticsknowledgeParmenidesperceptionwhat-is
spellingShingle Patricia Curd
Thinking, Supposing, and Physis in Parmenides
Études Platoniciennes
Presocratics
knowledge
Parmenides
perception
what-is
title Thinking, Supposing, and Physis in Parmenides
title_full Thinking, Supposing, and Physis in Parmenides
title_fullStr Thinking, Supposing, and Physis in Parmenides
title_full_unstemmed Thinking, Supposing, and Physis in Parmenides
title_short Thinking, Supposing, and Physis in Parmenides
title_sort thinking supposing and physis in parmenides
topic Presocratics
knowledge
Parmenides
perception
what-is
url https://journals.openedition.org/etudesplatoniciennes/741
work_keys_str_mv AT patriciacurd thinkingsupposingandphysisinparmenides