Why, yes, he said, there appears to me to be no difficulty in
showing by this method that visible things are like and unlike and may
experience anything.
Quite true, said Parmenides; but I think that you should go a step
further, and consider not only the consequences which flow from a
given hypothesis, but also the consequences which flow from denying
the hypothesis; and that will be still better training for you.
What do you mean? he said.
I mean, for example, that in the case of this very hypothesis of
Zeno's about the many, you should inquire not only what will be the
consequences to the many in relation to themselves and to the one, and
to the one in relation to itself and the many, on the hypothesis of
the being of the many, but also what will be the consequences to the
one and the many in their relation to themselves and to each other, on
the opposite hypothesis. Or, again, if likeness is or is not, what
will be the consequences in either of these cases to the subjects of
the hypothesis, and to other things, in relation both to themselves
and to one another, and so of unlikeness; and the same holds good of
motion and rest, of generation and destruction, and even of being
and not-being. In a word, when you suppose anything to be or not to
be, or to be in any way affected, you must look at the consequences in
relation to the thing itself, and to any other things which you
choose-to each of them singly, to more than one, and to all; and so of
other things, you must look at them in relation to themselves and to
anything else which you suppose either to be or not to be, if you
would train yourself perfectly and see the real truth.
Pages:
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28