Ancient · c. 495–430 BC
Who influenced Zeno of Elea?
Influences
Parmenides' paradox-machine: Achilles, the arrow, and the impossibility of motion.
Zeno of Elea was influenced by Parmenides. That is 1 line of the 448 documented lines of influence between the 279 thinkers on this map.
Read on Wikipedia Portrait: Jan de Bisschop, CC0 See the whole map
Who was Zeno of Elea?
Zeno of Elea was a student of Parmenides and defended his teacher's monism, the view that a single entity makes up all reality. To show that space, time, motion and plurality cannot exist, he devised a series of paradoxes. His own writings are lost; we know his arguments through Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes Laertius and Simplicius.
The arguments against motion turn on the idea that any distance can be divided without end, so crossing it would take infinitely many steps. Philosophers still have not agreed on a solution, though atomic theory, mathematical limits and set theory have challenged many of his assumptions.
Summarized from the lead of the Wikipedia article.
Who influenced Zeno of Elea?
1 direct influence on this map, earliest first.
- Parmenides c. 515–450 BC
The line of teachers behind Zeno of Elea
The longest documented line of influence ending at Zeno of Elea runs 2 generations back, to Xenophanes.
- Xenophanes
- Parmenides
- Zeno of Elea
Two steps away from Zeno of Elea
Indirect influences
- Through Parmenides: Xenophanes
Contemporaries of Zeno of Elea
Thinkers on this map born within 25 years of Zeno of Elea, with no direct line between them.
- Empedocles c. 494–434 BC
- Anaxagoras c. 500–428 BC
- Protagoras c. 490–420 BC
- Leucippus fl. 5th c. BC
- Gorgias c. 485–380 BC
- Socrates c. 470–399 BC
- Aspasia c. 470–400 BC
- Philolaus c. 470–385 BC
Zeno of Elea by the numbers
- Direct influences
- 1
- Direct followers
- 0
- Thinkers upstream
- 2
- Thinkers downstream
- 0
- Wikipedia languages
- 77 — #24 of 54 among ancient philosophers
- Card rarity
- Epic
Questions about Zeno of Elea
- Who influenced Zeno of Elea?
- Parmenides.
- Who did Zeno of Elea influence?
- No later thinker on this map is recorded as drawing directly on Zeno of Elea.
- When did Zeno of Elea live?
- c. 495–430 BC. The map files Zeno of Elea under the ancient world.
- How rare is the Zeno of Elea card?
- Wikipedia carries an article on Zeno of Elea in 77 languages, which makes it an Epic card. Legendary starts at 100 languages, Epic at 50 and Rare at 25.
More ancient philosophers
- Confucius 551–479 BC
- Aristotle 384–322 BC
- Plato c. 428–348 BC
- Socrates c. 470–399 BC
- Pythagoras c. 570–495 BC
- Laozi c. 6th c. BC
- Cicero 106–43 BC
- Thales of Miletus c. 624–546 BC