Single Idea 445

[catalogued under 7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / d. Non-being]

Full Idea

The other way of enquiry, that IT IS NOT, and IT is bound NOT TO BE, cannot be explored, for you could neither recognise nor express that which IS NOT.

Gist of Idea

The realm of necessary non-existence cannot be explored, because it is unknowable

Source

Parmenides (fragments/reports [c.474 BCE], B02), quoted by Simplicius - On Aristotle's 'Physics' 9.116.28-

Book Reference

'Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers', ed/tr. Freeman,Kathleen [Harvard 1957], p.42


A Reaction

There is not much to say about that which is not, but quite a lot, I would have thought, about what is 'bound not to be'. What prevents it from being?