Meaning of "Being alone is and nothing is altogether not."

Mind Dough February 24, 2018 at 22:38 2750 views 3 comments

Parmenides:Being alone is and nothing is altogether not.

As I could not find any meaningful discussion about the contents of this quote, I am curios what you guys think Parmenides meant by it.
I find myself inspired by his ways of thinking, and would like to learn more about it.

My interpretation of the quote is simply "Being alone is" and "nothing is altogether not". Meaning being is all there is. Nothing is not a thing. But I am very interested to hear other interpretations, and the sentence is very open to it.

Comments (3)

Sir2u February 25, 2018 at 00:14 #156326 0 likes

Quoting Mind Dough

But I am very interested to hear other interpretations, and the sentence is very open to it.

It is impossible to be alone and nothing does not exist. Thus they are not.

Deleted User February 25, 2018 at 02:53 #156368 0 likes

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Cavacava February 25, 2018 at 03:56 #156374 0 likes

Reply to Mind Dough

Being alone is and nothing is altogether not.

It is his way of clearing the decks, similar to how Descartes clears what is from what is not. What is not can't be thought, but what is can be thought, so then being or cogito.