To Think Like God: Pythagoras and Parmenides. The Origins of Philosophy - Hardcover

Hermann, Arnold

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1930972008 ISBN 13: 9781930972001

Publisher: Parmenides Publishing, 2004

Synopsis

This book is the scholarly & fully annotated edition of the award-winning The Illustrated To Think Like God.

To Think Like God focuses on the emergence of philosophy as a speculative science, tracing its origins to the Greek colonies of Southern Italy, from the late 6th century to mid-5th century B.C. Special attention is paid to the sage Pythagoras and his movement, the poet Xenophanes of Colophon, and the lawmaker Parmenides of Elea. In their own ways, each thinker held that true insight, whether as wisdom or certainty, belonged not to mortal human beings but to the gods.

The Pythagoreans sought to approach this otherwordly knowledge by studying numerical relationships, believing them to govern the universe, and that those who know the number of a thing know its true nature. Yet their quest was a hopeless one, bogged down by cultism, numerology, political conspiracies, bloody uprisings, and exile. Above all, number did not turn out as the most reliable of mediums; it was certainly not a key to the realm of the divine. Thus, their contributions to philosophy's inception, while much better-publicized, was not the most significant. That particular role was reserved for an unusual challenge and the elaborate reaction it provoked.

The challenge came from Xenophanes, who had argued that reliable truth was beyond mortal reach, because even if by accident a human being should state what is exactly the case, he had no way of knowing that he did, all things being susceptible to opinion.

This dilemma is sure to have bothered a legislative mind like that of Parmenides, and we find him introducing techniques for testing the veracity of statements. These methods were meant to be carried out by reasoning and argument alone, without relying in physical evidence or mortal sense-perception, which was deemed untrustworthy. Reason was that one faculty shared by gods and humans alike. In time, Parmenides' ingenious arguments have earned him the titled of the first logician and metaphysician whose influence on subsequent thinkers was immeasurable. Parmenides taught us that philosophy was not about claims but about proof, which also makes him the father of theoretical science -- which, curiously, began as a quest into the mind of God.

"Arnold Hermann makes a genuine contribution to Presocratics (Parmenides) studies. This book, which is both an introduction to Pythagoras and Parmenides and a scholarly study, will interest novices and experts alike. Hermann's multi-leveled approach and his careful analyses of alternate views make his work a useful teaching tool, while his systematic inquiry into Pythagoreanism, the poem of Parmenides, and the development of early Greek thought will well repay the attention of scholars.  —Patricia Curd,Purdue University

"To Think Like God is a highly ambitious book . . . Hermann's approach deserves to be taken seriously as an alternative to standard interpretations."  —Richard D. McKirahan, Jr.,Edwin Clarence Norton Professor of Classics and Professor of Philosophy, Pomona College

"Arnold Hermann brings fresh life into the specialists' debates . . . a blow of wind that dissipates much fog."  —Walter Burkert, Professor Emeritus of Classical Philology, University of Zurich

ARNOLD HERMANN is pursuing independent research on the origins of philosophy and methods of thinking. He specialices on subjects connected with Parmenides and Plato's Parmenides.

About this title

About the Author:

Arnold Hermann is an independent researcher and philosopher specializing in Presocratic philosophy, Metaphysics, and methods of thinking. He is the author of a number of essays on these subjects and on "Quantum Presocratics." His books include To Think Like God. Pythagoras and Parmenides. The Origins of Philosophy (scholarly edition, 2004), The Illustrated To Think Like God (over 200 illustrations, 2004), and Plato's Parmenides. Text, Translation & Introductory Essay (Foreword by Douglas Hedley, Cambridge University; Translation in collaboration with Sylvana Chrysakopoulou). He is currently continuing his scholarly work on "Plato's Eleatic Project," while at the same time writing a philosophical fiction trilogy on the "Soul."

Review:

Succeeds admirably, shedding a classical light on our own age as well as revealing the lively intellect of the past. -- Library Journal, February 15, 2005

About this edition

• Publisher: Parmenides Publishing
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1930972008
• ISBN 13: 9781930972001
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 404