Arist. _Phys._ Ζ, 9. 239 b 33 (R. P. 139). I have had to express the
argument in my own way, as it is not fully given by any of the
authorities. The figure is practically Alexander’s (Simpl. _Phys._ p.
1016, 14), except that he represents the ὄγκοι by letters instead of
dots. The conclusion is plainly stated by Aristotle (_loc. cit._),
συμβαίνειν οἴεται ἴσον εἶναι χρόνον τῷ διπλασίῳ τὸν ἥμισυν, and,
however we explain the reasoning, it must be so represented as to lead
to this conclusion.
According to Aristotle, the paralogism here depends upon the assumption
that an equal magnitude moving with equal velocity must move for an
equal time, whether the magnitude with which it is equal is at rest or
in motion. That is certainly so, but we are not to suppose that this
assumption is Zeno’s own. The fourth argument is, in fact, related to
the third just as the second is to the first. The Achilles adds a second
moving point to the single moving point of the first argument; this
argument adds a second moving line to the single moving line of the
arrow in flight. The lines, however, are represented as a series of
units, which is just how the Pythagoreans represented them; and it is
quite true that, if lines are a sum of discrete units, and time is
similarly a series of discrete moments, there is no other measure of
motion possible than the number of units which each unit passes.
This argument, like the others, is intended to bring out the absurd
conclusions which follow from the assumption that all quantity is
discrete, and what Zeno has really done is to establish the conception
of continuous quantity by a _reductio ad absurdum_ of the other
hypothesis. If we remember that Parmenides had asserted the one to be
continuous (fr. 8, 25), we shall see how accurate is the account of
Zeno’s method which Plato puts into the mouth of Sokrates.
II. MELISSOS OF SAMOS
[Sidenote: Life.]
164. In his Life of Perikles, Plutarch tells us, on the authority of
Aristotle, that the philosopher Melissos, son of Ithagenes, was the
Samian general who defeated the Athenian fleet in 441/0 B.C.:[896] and
it was no doubt for this reason that Apollodoros fixed his _floruit_ in
Ol. LXXXIV. (444-41 B.C.).[897] Beyond this, we really know nothing
about his life. He is said to have been, like Zeno, a disciple of
Parmenides;[898] but, as he was a Samian, it is possible that he was
originally a member of the Ionic school, and we shall see that certain
features of his doctrine tend to bear out this view. On the other hand,
he was certainly convinced by the Eleatic dialectic, and renounced the
Ionic doctrine in so far as it was inconsistent with that. We note here
the effect of the increased facility of intercourse between East and
West, which was secured by the supremacy of Athens.
Footnote 896:
Plut. _Per._ 26 (R. P. 141 b), from Aristotle’s Σαμίων πολιτεία.
[Sidenote: The Fragments.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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