Parmenides' Theory of Knowledge

THIS fragment is quoted by Aristotle (Metaph. 1009b21) in a passage in which he is arguing that many if not all of his predecessors identified thought with sensation and sensation with physical impression. He instances Empedocles, Democritus, Parmenides, and Anaxagoras. Of Parmenides he says simply: Kal IIappev0rls 8 dro4atLverat Tbv arvy 7pbo7rov, quotes the fragment, and passes on to Anaxagoras. Theophrastus quotes the same fragment in the same context (De Sensu, Dox. Graec. 499-VS 28A46) but interprets. "Parmenides," he says, "does not discuss the problem separately but merely says that there are two elements and that cognition occurs by the element in excess. For cast of thought (8Lbvota) differs as hot or cold is in excess, and excess of heat is better and purer. However, even heat must be in just proportion." The fragment follows. After remarking that "he equates thought and sense perception," Theophrastus continues his interpretation on these lines, adding one particular-that a corpse perceives only cold. He concludes that "his notion appears to entail difficult consequences." Theophrastus is quoting a fragment he found in the Metaphysics in the sense in which Aristotle quoted it; and Aristotle, even if he was quoting with the whole poem of Parmenides before him, chose a singularly obscure and inconclusive passage to illustrate his point. It does not appear to mean what Aristotle wanted it to mean, and it takes all the ingenuity of Theophrastus (who uses the hot and cold which are not Parmenides' elements) to force on it the interpretation which the Metaphysics demands.2