PARMENIDES by Plato - Complete text

Page 57

And it will be in the same case in relation to the other changes, when it passes from being into cessation of being, or from not - being into becoming - then it passes between certain states of motion and rest, and, neither is nor is not, nor becomes nor is destroyed.

Very true.

And on the same principle, in the passage from one to many and from many to one, the one is neither one nor many, neither separated nor aggregated; and in the passage from like to unlike, and from unlike to like, it is neither like nor unlike, neither in a state of assimilation nor of dissimilation; and in the passage from small to great and equal and back again, it will be neither small nor great, nor equal, nor in a state of increase, or diminution, or equalization. True.

All these, then, are the affections of the one, if the one has being.

Of course. -

But if one is, what will happen to the others - is not that also to be considered?

Yes.

Let us show then, if one is, what will be the affections of the others than the one.

Let us do so.

Inasmuch as there are things other than the one, the others are not the one; for if they were they could not be other than the one. Very true.

Very true.

Nor are the others altogether without the one, but in a certain way they participate in the one.

In what way?

Because the others are other than the one inasmuch as they have parts; for if they had no parts they would be simply one.

Right.

And parts, as we affirm, have relation to a whole?

So we say.

Previous Page / First / Next

Plato : PARMENIDES

Learned Freeware