Did Parmenides receive his deep philosophical insights because he was a priest? If this were true, it would disappoint many moderns who like to view the Presocratics as those who spearheaded the triumph of reason over religion. While it is correct to say that Presocratics like Xenophanes did accomplish much in discounting narrow superstitious beliefs, […]
Category Archives: Mythology
42. Parmenides Experiences Enlightenment in the Realm of Deep Darkness
Was Parmenides a mystic? This is one of the questions about Parmenides that I will seek to answer in this post as we return to the Presocratic philosophers. As I study the Presocratics, I am discovering things I never anticipated. Because of my modern perspective, I started this blog viewing philosophy as a purely rational […]
23. Hesiod and the Creation of the World
“Chaos was first of all, but next appeared Broad-Bosomed Earth.” -Hesiod from Theogony Hesiod’s Theogony was monumental in advancing Greek thinking because its subject matter was no less than the origin of the universe.1 It is the most complete surviving Greek account of the creation of the universe. Hesiod described not only how the universe came into being, but […]
22. Homer – from the Glory of the Battlefield to the Virtue of the Homestead
“My mother Thetis tells me that there are two ways in which I may meet my end. If I stay and fight, I shall not return alive, but my name will live forever; whereas if I go home my name will die, but it will be long ere death shall take me.”1 -The Iliad, Achilles talking to […]