 |
 |
|
Biography of Zeno of Elea
Name: Zeno of Elea
Birth Date: c. 490 B.C.
Death Date: N/A
Place of Birth: Elea, Italy
Nationality: Greek
Gender: Male
Occupations: philosopher, logician
Zeno of Elea
Zeno of Elea (born ca. 490 BC) was a Greek philosopher and logician. A member of the Eleatic school of philosophy, he was famous throughout antiquity for the rigorously logical and devastating arguments which he used to show the absurdities and contradictions of his opponents.Zeno was born in the southern Italian city of Elea. Plato says that Zeno and Parmenides visited Athens about 449 B.C., where the young Socrates made their acquaintance and where Zeno made a striking impression. Ancient authorities asserted that, like Parmenides, Zeno was a Pythagorean, that he engaged in political activity in his native city, and that he was put to death for plotting against a tyrant. An oft-repeated story tells of his bravery under torture and the painful death which he endured.It is possible that Zeno wrote more than one work, but he is best known for a single volume of epicheiremata (attacks) on
showed first 150 words
You are viewing only a small portion of the biography. Please login or register to access the full copy.
|
|
showed last 150 words
the available evidence if Zeno's purpose was to offer a serious defense of the One or if he simply wanted to show that other arguments were no better. Aristotle called him the inventor of dialectic, and Zeno was undoubtedly one of the important early Greek logicians. Further Reading Selected passages from Zeno's work in English translation and with commentary are in Geoffrey S. Kirk and John E. Raven, The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts (1957). Excellent discussions of Zeno's importance and place in the development of Greek thought are in John Burnet, Early Greek Philosophy (1892; 4th ed. 1930), and Kathleen Freeman, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Companion to Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (1940; 3d ed. 1953). More generalized discussions of the Pre-Socratics and their place in Greek literature and thought appear in the standard histories of Greek literature, such as that by Albin Lesky, A History of Greek Literature (1958; trans. 1966).
Need a custom written paper?
|
|
 |
|