On Parmenides and the Law of Contradiction

Abstract

                                                                  Abstract

Is it possible to think and say reasonably, meaningfully, that something is here and now or that something is not here and now? Aiming to show that the answer to that question is far from obvious, I refer to the fragments of Parmenides of Elea, an early Greek thinker who was probably the first to raise the question and try to provide an answer. I start by offering my understanding of Parmenides’ poem ‘On Nature’, noting the shortcomings of his approach and endeavouring to continue his thought. Having shown that our conception of thinking and speaking, which stems from the Ancient Greeks and is still dominant today, leads us to a dead end, I propose an original theory of meaning and reference at the heart of which lies not one or another form of interdependence of one thing with another thing but your freedom and mine. This theory helps me overcome factually the effect of the law of contradiction and thus dissolve the problem, which renders my thinking consonant with what was said by Heraclitus of Ephesus.