Introduction

The ancient, pre-scratic philosopher Parmenides of Elia is the father of Western metaphysics. We can't date his life with any certainty, but he's definitely after Pythagoras and definitely before Plato. His doctrine of radical oneness of being could well be a kind of response to the twin principles of limit and unlimited. He was perhaps the first thinker really to grapple with the idea of being in itself. What does this mean? Is it something that can be abstracted from the mentally?