Being
'What is, is' — with that stark claim, Parmenides made reality one, eternal, and changeless, and launched Western metaphysics.
Being (to on) — that which is — became philosophy's central question with Parmenides of Elea (early 5th c. BCE), who argued in his poem that whatever truly exists cannot come to be, perish, or change. From this seed grew the study of being as such, which Aristotle pursued as 'first philosophy' (later editors titled it the Metaphysics) and which became known as ontology — and it remained the discipline's core problem for over two thousand years.
How it traveled
- Fragmenta— · -445explains
- RepublicAthens · -375explains
- CratylusAthens · -375explains
- ParmenidesAthens · -370explains
- TheaetetusAthens · -369explains
- SophistAthens · -360explains
- TimaeusAthens · -360explains
- PhilebusAthens · -355explains
- MetaphysicsChalcis · -322explains
- De Xenophane, de Zenone, de GorgiaChalcis · -322explains
- Divisiones AristoteleaeChalcis · -322explains
- PhysicaChalcis · -322explains
- Adversus ColotenChaeronea · 95explains
- De E apud DelphosChaeronea · 120explains
- Adversus MathematicosAlexandria · 190explains
- Pyrrhoniae HypotyposesAlexandria · 210explains
- Vitae philosophorum— · 240explains
- EnneadesRome · 270explains
- Duties of the HeartZaragoza (Saragossa) · 1080
- Mishneh Torah, Foundations of the TorahFostat (Old Cairo) · 1180
- Guide for the PerplexedCairo · 1190
- Sha'arei OrahGuadalajara · 1260
- ZoharGuadalajara · 1280
- Sefer HaIkkarimSoria · 1425
- Akeidat YitzchakTarragona · 1490
- Abarbanel on TorahNaples · 1505
- Avodat HaKodesh (Ibn Gabbai)Cairo · 1523
- Pardes RimmonimTzfat · 1548
- Ketem Paz on ZoharTzfat · 1561
- Reshit ChokhmahTzfat · 1575
Key passages(20)
In Aristotelis Metaphysica Commentaria · Alexander of Aphrodisias
De Xenophane, de Zenone, de Gorgia · Pseudo-Aristotle
De Xenophane, de Zenone, de Gorgia · Pseudo-Aristotle
De Xenophane, de Zenone, de Gorgia · Pseudo-Aristotle
De Xenophane, de Zenone, de Gorgia · Pseudo-Aristotle
Divisiones Aristoteleae · Pseudo-Aristotle
Divisiones Aristoteleae · Pseudo-Aristotle
Divisiones Aristoteleae · Pseudo-Aristotle
Divisiones Aristoteleae · Pseudo-Aristotle