Parmenides, Venerable and Awesome. Plato, Theaetetus 183e: Proceedings of the International Symposium

Despite Parmenides' tremendous importance during his own lifetime and his perennial influence on philosophical thought ever since, the great Eleatic -- born circa 515 BCE and described by Plato as "Venerable and Awesome" (Theaetetus, 183e) -- had never been the subject of an international conference until 2007, when some of the world's most eminent specialists on Parmenides' philosophy convened for a multinational and multilingual Symposium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The present volume offers a collection of the papers (translated, where applicable) presented at the conference, each advancing the respective scholar's current state of research on Parmenides and his Poem, "On Nature", often with far-reaching and sometimes controversial results. The topics discussed include the challenge of translation, the Poem's poetic form, its logical structure, the sequence of the fragments, the interpretation of "Aletheia" and "Doxa", what Parmenides meant by "mortals" the Poem's "physics" (especially Parmenidean astronomy), the various senses of Being and the role of thought, as well as Plato's relationship to Parmenides. In their different ways each contribution conveys a deep appreciation for the revolutionary nature of Parmenides' philosophy, and the collection as a whole bears witness to the fact that the study of Parmenides continues to yield rich and prolific scholarship -- perhaps today more so than ever. This book is intended for scholars and non-specialists alike, and will be of particular relevance to students of Ancient Greek Philosophy, Classical Studies, as well as philosophy and literature more generally. Contributors: Scott Austin; Jean Bollack; Giovanni Casertano; Barbara Cassin; Giovanni Cerri; Nestor-Luis Cordero; Lambros Couloubaritsis; Patricia Curd; Jean Frere; Arnold Hermann; Charles H Kahn; Alexander P D Mourelatos; Massimo Pulpito; Chiara Robbiano; Fernando Santoro; Jose Trindade Santos; Jose Dueso Solana; Panagiotis Thanassas