Leiden University Student Repository

Luijn, Nathasja van (2018)

The figurability of theory. The philosophical significance of circularity in Parmenides

Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)

The main question answered in this thesis 'The figurability of theory. The philosophical significance of circularity in Parmenides’ is how circularity figures Parmenides’ doctrine and what its philosophical significance is. A significant and recurring notion in all three parts of the poem, circularity is employed as a didactic tool to demonstrate the theory to the audience, as a polemic notion to contrast his theory with the ones of his predecessors or the other section of his own poem (the δόξαι in case of the ἀλήθεια and vice versa), and as a reflective means to stress key aspects of his own theory. I employ notions from Marin’s semiotics of images, such as the deictic frame and the theoretical objects, having adapted them in order to make them fit for application to archaic Greek poetry rather than visual arts.

Parmenides

Presocratic philosophy

Circularity

Figurability

Ancient Philosophy

Ancient Greek poetry

Philosophical significance

Author

Luijn, Nathasja van

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Classics

Supervisors

Iribarren, Leopoldo

ECTS Credits

25

Language

en