Come la sfera d’un eterno istante

L’esperienza del pensare in Parmenide

Abstract

The image of the sphere, through which Parmenides characterizes being (Parm. 28 B 8.42–49 Diels–Kranz), can be interpreted as alluding to a monism not excluding difference and plurality, that is implying an eminently relational notion of being. This interpretation can be supported by explicating the Parmenidean sphere as an infinite, but definite sphere whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is unlocalizable. This sphere namely constitutes a plural and dynamic unity in which every component through manifesting itself instantly manifests all other components as well as the totality of the sphere. The here intended dynamic unity — which, in order to avoid any spatialization, has to be represented as rhythm and harmony transcending space and time — can give a valuable help in the effort of understanding the experience of thinking presupposed by Parmenides, since it illustrates in a very productive way the inseparability of subject and object of thinking to which Parmenides seems to point. The vitality of the experience which can be discovered through the aforesaid illustration indicates that the legacy of Parmenides’ philosophy can still nowadays perceived as actual.