«It is the same to think and to be«, wrote Parmenides of Elea more than 2,500 years ago to express that only that which exists can be the object of true thought.
If the philosophers of the Ancient Greece is to question reality with critical thinking, and understand the world through reason. Many of them show us the importance of self-knowledge and this Greek thinker was not the exception.
This is one of the iconic phrases of the pre-Socratic philosopher (this is how those before Socrates or contemporaries to him, but with a different approach) that laid the foundations of ontology or the study of being.
The Greek formulation (τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ νοεῖν ἐστίν τε καὶ εἶναι) is found in Fragment 3 of the traditional compilation and proposes that thought and reality are the same thing: you cannot think of «nothing» and everything you think «is».
Furthermore, it could be linked to the modern reinterpretation of Rene Descarteswho in 1637 pronounced his «I think, therefore I am«(«Cogito, ergo sum»). Both place thought (or reason) as the supreme criterion of truth and the basis for confirming existence. Although, although they are connected, the objectives are different.
While Parmenides in ancient times it gives a ontological statement (about being) in modernity, Descartes obtains a epistemological statement (about knowledge) and its starting point is subjective (the «I»), to build all scientific knowledge after methodical doubt.
What does the phrase of Parmenides, Greek philosopher, mean?
It is said that Parmenides He wrote only one work and it was a philosophical poem in epic verse, of which we know only some fragments through quotes from other authors. With that phrase he also feels a difference between reality and appearance, a central idea in his philosophy. It opposes a truth, firm and reliable, against opinion, which can be misleading.
The philosopher argues that being is unique, immutable and eternalwhile non-being is unthinkable and innombrable. This radical dichotomy challenges the notion of change and becoming. The distinction between appearance and reality in Parmenides’ philosophy reminds us of the importance of questioning our perceptions and seek deeper and more authentic knowledge.
Furthermore, the phrase establishes an idea that relates the ability to rational thinking and true existence. What is can be thought and grasped by reason. We cannot think about «nothing», because the moment we think about something, we are assuming that it has a way of being.
An important leap, if you want to analyze it this way, is unite existence with consciousnesssince if something can be thought, then it exists. If it does not exist, it is unthinkable. This establishes that rational thought and the reality of being are identical.
Parmenides also speaks of the responsibility for consistencysince if thinking and being are the same, the quality of our existence depends directly on the depth of our ideas and thoughts. There is no «true life» that occurs outside of our ability to reason and understand the world. For this reason, the lack of intellectual curiosity can be taken as a renunciation of the potential of one’s own being.
